Programme - 3rd Edition of the Festival

Saturday, June 5, Corpus Christi Chapel 9.00 p.m. (at candlelight)

Preludium (Ravel - Schulhoff - Handel / Halvorsen)

  • Erwin Schulhoff: Duo for Violin and Cello
  • Maurice Ravel: Sonata for Violin and Cello
  • Frideric Handel-Johan Halvorsen: Passacaglia

Two large-scale duets by two great 20th-century composers, plus a virtuoso Passacaglia. Here´s the third Festival prelude, in candlelight and with the peerless atmosphere of the Corpus Christi Chapel.

Details

Sunday, June 6, Church of St. John Nepomucene 7.30 p.m.

Opening Concert (Dvořák - Čajkovskij)

Dvořák and Tchaikovsky revisited, after last year´s successful evening, a fresh encounter with two composers each of whom made a decisive contribution to asserting his national music on the international scene.

Details

Monday, June 7, Corpus Christi Chapel 8.30 p.m.

Goldberg Variations (Bach)

The Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach presented here in Dmitry Sitkovetsky´s oft-performed transcription for violin, viola and cello. The phenomenal aria with thirty variations, in an acoustic dimension conjured up by stringed instruments.

Details

Tuesday, June 8, Church of St. John Nepomucene 7.30 p.m.

The Kreutzer Sonata (Beethoven - Janáček - Tolstoj)

“Unplayable,” was the judgment meted out on Beethoven´s sonata by an annoyed Rodolphe Kreutzer, while for their part, Russian imperial censors banned Tolstoy´s story straightaway. Here is a night of Janáček inspired by Tolstoy; and Tolstoy inspired by Beethoven; love and passion serving as a fount of inspiration for three phenomenal artistic messages.

Details

Wednesday, June 9, Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin 7.30 p.m.

Mendelssohn - Schubert

Mendelssohn was the first to conduct Schubert´s orchestral work, at a time when the latter was still known only as a composer of lieder. Tonight, the platform will be taken by music from both composers of some of the finest German early-Romantic chamber music.

Details

Thursday, June 10, Church of St. John Nepomucene 7.30 p.m.

"Chopin 2010"

  • Fréderic François Chopin:
    Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor, Op. 65
  • Frédéric François Chopin:
    Concerto for Piano in E minor, Op. 11 (string quartet version)

Konstantin Lifschitz (D) – piano, Roman Patočka – violin, Irena Herajnová – violin,
Karel Unterműller - viola, Jiří Bárta – cello, Alberto Bocini (IT) - double-bass

Chopin´s Romanticism is exceptionally timeless. It takes root in the Classical legacies of Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart, in terms of style being firmly anchored in the 19th century, yet at the same time, by the composer´s employment of intricate harmonies and dissonances opening up 20th-century horizons. The bicentenary of the phenomenal Polish composer will be marked here by two works, a rarely performed cello sonata, and the much loved Piano Concerto No. 1

Details

Friday, June 11, Corpus Christi Chapel 8.30 p.m.

Reflexe 2010

Reflection: through narrow gaps, we try and peek into the abyss.
“The highest (and the most difficult) thing in art is not, at least so I believe, to produce laughter, or for that matter to bring out tears, or even to awaken sensuality or wrath, but much rather, it should work in the same way as Nature does, that is, to induce dreaming. Certain works of sublime beauty do bear this sign, they are obvious and yet inexplicable at first sight, they are immobile as rocks, turbulent as ocean, abounding in flowers, foliage, forest-like hum, sad as the desert, blue as the sky… Through narrow gaps we try and peek into the abyss. There, at the rock bottom, is darkness, vertigo, but then, across and over it all, floating above the whole work is something peculiarly tender. It is a dream of light, a smile of the sun, and silence, silence… (Gustave Flaubert)

Details

Saturday, June 12, Church of St. Barbara 6.00 p.m.

Finale (Mahler - Kubelík - Beethoven)

This year the whole world is commemorating 150 years from the birth of Gustav Mahler. At the same time, events marking the birth and death anniversaries of Jan Kubelík (1880 – 1940) have so far been fairly low-profile, even in his native country. And yet, he spent his whole life spreading and promoting Czech music, and helping out Czech artists.
Here then, side by side, are Mahler´s Adagietto, a work of silver-screen fame, and Beethoven´s Septet adored by Schubert flanking the subtle Andante of Kubelík´s violin concerto, amid the splendour of St Barbara´s Cathedral.

Details

Saturday, June 12, Basic Art School Assembly Hall 9.00 p.m.

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Admission free