Don’t put contemporary music down!
Get to know the work of our contemporaries, Messrs Teml, Filas, Bartoň and Gemrot.
Accompanied by the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, their music will be performed by organist Aleš Bárta, trumpeter Marek Zvolánek, saxophonist Jiří Hlaváč and clarinettist Irvin Venyš.
The conductor will be Marek Šedivý, who first worked with the PRSO in December 2014; they met again at the Prague Spring Festival six months later and this encounter – on Monday 8 February – will be their third.
The evening will get underway with the Concerto for Organ no. 3 “Te Deum laudamus” by Jiří Teml (1935), who was for years an editor and dramaturge at Czech Radio. As a young musician he played organ in a number of churches in Western Bohemia.
TICKETS: Teml / Filas / Bartoň / Gemrot
He later composed many pieces for the instrument in which, thanks to his deep knowledge and sensitivity, he made use of the colour possibilities of the organ and orchestra in an imaginative manner.
As an artist Juraj Filas (1955) is openly faithful to the traditions of the greatest masters of European music. His work is often performed abroad (quite recently at Carnegie Hall, for instance) where he is popular and highly rated. His Concerto for Piccolo Trumpet and Orchestra is sure to win you over too.
Alongside pieces resting on musical tradition, the broad spectrum of Hanuš Bartoň’s oeuvre also includes experimental compositions. His Concerto for Alto Saxophone, Clarinet and Orchestra will receive its premiere. The two soloists, Mr. Hlaváč and Mr. Venyš, have actively contributed to the final form of the solo parts.
The evening will conclude with our Czech Radio colleague, the musical director and teacher Jiří Gemrot (1957), resp. his Second Symphony. The composer has described it as a tribute to the music of the distant past, specifically the four-movement cyclic form.
To get in the mood properly for the Rudolfinum evening, we would like to refer you to an interview with the last named composer. Among other subjects, Jiří Gemrot reflects at length on the issue of why audiences are afraid of contemporary composers.
We hope you don’t fear them. We are holding the tribute to Czech composers on Monday 8 February at the Rudolfinum’s Dvořák Hall. Czech Radio Vltava will broadcast the concert live.
