Flash Compressor

Feb 21 2012

Prague Philharmonia

By Chris

Prague Philharmonia
Event on 2012-03-21 20:00:00
PRAGUE PHILHARMONIA
with Jiří Bělohlávek, Conductor

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Don Giovanni, overture
Leoš Janáček: Suite for Strings
Jan Václav Hugo Voříšek: Symphony in D Major

PROGRAM COMMENTARY:
The world premiere of the opera Don Giovanni on 29 October 1787 at the Nostic (today’s Estates) Theatre in Prague met with great acclaim, paving the way for the work to become a permanent fixture of opera houses worldwide. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was commissioned with writing a new opera during his visit to Prague in January 1787. Unlike in Vienna, where it had flopped, his previous opera, Le nozze di Figaro, garnered tremendous success in the Czech metropolis. Mozart worked on Don Giovanni over the next few months, yet only applied the finishing touches to it after arriving in Prague on 4 October. As in the case of Le nozze di Figaro, the libretto was written by Lorenzo da Ponte. The opera, about the admired and condemned rake and rebel, radiates Shakespearean ambiguity, blending slapstick comedy and tragedy, the “high” and the “low, giving rise to philosophical contemplation while at the same time affording splendid entertainment replete with excitement and humour. This year, 225 years will have passed since the world premiere of the opera Don Giovanni.

The Suite for String Orchestra was written in 1877 and is in fact Janáček´s earliest surviving instrumental piece, apart from the Intradas and Sounds in Memory of Förchtgott-Tovačovský. Its six parts had originally been denoted Prélude, Allemande, Sarabande, Scherzo, Air and Finale (in the 2nd version), but Janáček later gave the titles up. The suite documents the fact that in its time Janáček still regarded composing rather more as a complementary activity than as the main concern of his creative endeavour.

The piano virtuoso and composer Jan Václav Hugo Voříšek was one of the last Czech musicians (later on termed “Czech musical emigrants”) who in the second half of the 18th and the early 19th centuries left their homeland to seek fame and fortune abroad. The desire to meet Ludwig van Beethoven in person was one of the main reasons why Voříšek interrupted his studies of law in Prague and in the autumn of 1813 departed for Vienna. In addition to composing, he regularly gave concerts, and his virtuosic technique soon earned him the reputation of being one of the finest pianists in the Austrian capital. During his performances for Viennese aristocrats, he actually encountered his idol Beethoven. Voříšek completed his only symphonic work, Symphony in D major, Op. 23, in January 1823. The composition was first performed at a concert of the Vienna-based Society for Friends of Music alongside Beethoven’s oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives. Considering the fact that it was Voříšek’s first symphonic piece, its maturity is truly amazing. The composer did not linger with a slow introduction, which until then was relatively common: the main theme appears right at the beginning of the first movement, which is noteworthy for its compactness and torrential cadence. It is similar in the following movements, which display the composer’s inspired inventiveness and superb instrumentation. The Beethovenian heroism and pomp is overridden by conciseness and effective use of the available means, with elements echoing Baroque flashing through in places, as in the case of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s late works. ~Kryštof Spirit

PRAGUE PHILHARMONIA was established in 1994 upon the initiative of the conductor Jiří Bělohlávek as a chamber ensemble made up of young music school graduates playing with true engagement and passion. Following 1996, when it became one of the first public benefit companies, it gradually came to be ranked among the Czech Republic’s foremost orchestras and built up renown abroad.
The fundamental configuration of the Prague Philharmonia is based on the type of orchestra dating from the period of Viennese Classicism, whose compositions form the cornerstone of its repertoire. In addition to paramount works of this epoch, the Romantic era and the 20th century, the concert programme is supplemented by a special series of concerts featuring modern and contemporary music, still rather exceptional when it comes to the leading Czech orchestras. When it comes to education, the Prague Philharmonia not only dedicates to talented young musicians in the Prague Philharmonia Orchestral Academy, but children too.
It was the first orchestra in the Czech Republic to start organising special concerts for children. Owing to their conception, the concerts do not create the impression of being “educational” but, conversely, familiarise children with classical music in an extremely entertaining form. The programme for children is completed by the Notička club for children, which strives to cultivate their aesthetic sensibilities and extend their leisure-time activities.

The Prague Philharmonia frequently performs at prestigious world concert halls, is a regular guest at international music festivals and appears with world-famous conductors and soloists, including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Milan Turković, Emmanuel Villaume, Jefim Bronfman, András Schiff, Shlomo Mintz, Sarah Chang, Isabelle Faust, Mischa Maisky, Magdalena Kožená, Anna Netrebko, Natalie Dessay, Rolando Villazón, Placido Domingo and many others.
The orchestra has to date recorded more than 60 compact discs for labels of such renown as Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, Supraphon, EMI and Harmonia Mundi. One of the most recent Prague Philharmonia albums is the live recording of Bedřich Smetana’s My Country from the opening concert of the 2010 Prague Spring festival.
Among the interesting projects the Prague Philharmonia has lined up for the 2011-12 season are a tour of Japan and South Korea, an orchestral concert featuring the violinist and conductor Vladimir Spivakov, an autumn tour with Maxim Vengerov and collaboration with Anna Netrebko, Erwin Schrott and Jonas Kaufmann.

at Czech National Building
321 East 73rd Street, NYC (between 1st and 2nd Ave)
New York, United States

DWELE
Event on 2012-02-25 20:00:00
Doors 8 / Show 9 / 18+

• 18+ with valid photo ID
• Seated, General Admission (first come, first served) show
• No professional cameras

Neo-soul singer/songwriter/producer Dwele grew up on Detroit's west side, listening to soul music from Motown visionaries Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye as well as jazz on the radio. Born Andwele Gardner, he began writing songs at the age of ten, after his father was murdered outside his home, and attended Cody High in Detroit. Dwele spent a year studying music at Wayne State but then opted for an informal education, making music at his home while living in Dearborn and working for AAA. His demo tape, 1998's The Rize, made waves around the Motor City, and he spent time collaborating with Detroit hip-hop group Slum Village and Philadelphia rapper Bahamadia. Signed to Virgin on the strength of his songwriting and performance skills, Dwele released Subject in mid-2003 and cemented his appeal with European audiences (he was a favorite on Gilles Peterson's influential Radio 1 program) with a tour that summer. His second album, Some Kinda…, followed in 2005 and reached the Top 10 of the R&B chart. A couple years later, he provided the hook on Kanye West's hit single "Flashing Lights." Released in 2008, Sketches of a Man (number seven R&B) and 2010's W.W.W. (featuring sociopolitical themes, a slight change of pace) found him on the Koch label.

at Center Stage
1374 West Peachtree Street
Atlanta, United States

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Prague Philharmonia