Ginastera. Schulhoff. Dvořák

Orchestral series A
Dvořák Hall Rudolfinum
Jan Palach Square 79/1, Prague
Tickets

Live broadcast of the final concert on ČT Art from 20.00.

Admission: CZK 1 300 | 900 | 700 | 500 (SL/E) | 200 (ST) | CZK 3 000 (Donor's ticket)

Erwin Schulhoff
Suite for Chamber Orchestra Op. 37
Alberto Ginastera
Harp Concerto Op. 25
Antonín Dvořák
Symphony No. 7 in D minor Op. 70
Partner
AD-Ventures-Invest
Institut français de Prague

Please note that the start of this concert is exceptionally at 20:00 (originally 19:30) due to the TV broadcast.

The final concert will be a show of the art of two Emmanuels: our chief conductor, and the young harpist Emmanuel Ceysson, who has already gained a reputation as one of the most prominent players on this instrument. We will hear him playing the Concerto by Albert Ginastera. Through the work of this important Argentinian composer, we will look at how politics influenced art outside the European continent. Ginastera's career was in many ways restricted by the authoritarian Perón regime under which Argentina found itself in the middle of the 20th century. Politics had a fatal impact on the life of another of the composers featured in the programme, the Czech composer Ervín Schulhoff, who perished in a concentration camp.

We chose Dvořák's Symphony No. 7 as the very last composition of the season. The work, which is often called the composer's best symphony, is somewhat out of line with the character of his oeuvre. It is rather gloomy, it lacks ‘Slavic’ inspirations and is closer to the model of the symphonic masters Brahms and Beethoven. The ingeniously built work, which probably reflects Dvořák's concerns and dilemmas at the time, will be a dignified and vivid end to this year's orchestral cycle.

A small preview of the programme

Emmanuel Ceysson — harp

Emmanuel Ceyson

Emmanuel Ceysson is one of the most acclaimed harpists in the world.

In 2020 he will assume the post of a principal harpist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, a position he held in the past at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and at the Paris Opera. Since 2005 he has been giving concerts in the leading world venues (Wigmore Hall, Salle Gaveau, Carnegie Hall, Vienna Konzerthaus and Berliner Philharmonie); these included both solo recitals and concert and chamber music repertoire. He is a laureate of several prestigious international competitions, including the USA International Harp Competition (2004), New York Young Concert Artists Audition (2016), and the renowned International Music Competition Musikwettbewerb of the German public television and radio broadcasting service ARD in Munich (2009).

In the years 2005-2009, he was visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London and taught at the International Summer Academy in Nice. His plans for the near future include a performance of Glière’s Concerto for Harp with the Grazer Philharmonisches Orchester in Stefaniensaal in Graz, Austria; a recital with the mezzosoprano Joyce DiDonato at Carnegie Hall, New York; a series of concerts in Hong Kong, and taking part in the Festival Lanaudiere in Canada.

Emmanuel Villaume — conductor

Emmanuel Villaume, foto: Marco Borggreve

Emmanuel Villaume has been the principal conductor and music director of the PKF — Prague Philharmonia since the 2015-2016 season and is in his eighth year as musical director of Dallas Opera. In the 2020–2021 season, he returns to the Metropolitan Opera in New York (Roméo et Juliette), Lyric Opera of Chicago (Samson and Delilah) and the Dallas Opera, where he is music director (Nozze di Figaro, Lohengrin, and a world premiere “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly").

Together with the soprano Diana Damrau he was awarded the prestigious ECHO Klassik award in the category Opera Album of the Year, for their recording of Meyerbeer’s arias in 2017. In December 2017 he conducted the much-anticipated Metropolitan Opera’s production of Puccini’s Tosca, broadcast as part of the MET: Live in HD to more than 2000 cinemas in 73 countries. He regularly works with prestigious opera houses around the world: the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London; Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, Metropolitan Opera New York, Lyric Opera in Chicago and San Francisco Opera. He has led productions in Washington National Opera, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Teatro Real in Madrid, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Bavarian State Opera and Teatro La Fenice.

Maestro Villaume has conducted leading world orchestras: Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Royal Philharmonic in London; Chicago, San Francisco and Boston Symphonic Orchestras, Los Angeles Philharmonic and NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. He is a sought-after partner of leading opera stars: Anna Netrebko, Diana Damrau, Bryan Hymel and Angela Gheorghiu. Born in Strasbourg in 1964, Emmanuel Villaume studied music at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg, followed by studies at École normale supérieure at the Sorbonne in Paris where he received degrees in literature, philosophy, and musicology. As an author of noted articles on musicology, Emmanuel Villaume was appointed Dramaturge of the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg at the age of 21. In the years 2001—2010, he was Music Director of Spoleto Festival. He holds an Honorary Doctorate from Indianapolis University.

With support
Hl.město Praha
Ministerstvo kultury
General partner
Komerční banka
Principal partner
Hyundai
General media partner
Česká televize
Principal media partner
Hospodářské noviny
Patron
RSBC
Partners
SIKO
BENU
Centrální depozitář cenných papírů
Mozart Prague