Updates: 06/09/2021 22:50
Released: 06.09.2021, 22:50

Prague – Dvořák’s Prague Festival opened tonight at the Rudolfinum in Prague with Dvořák’s Concerto for Cello and New World Symphony. Colombian conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada conducted the Filarmonica della Scala orchestra from the famous Milan concert halls of the same name, the solo part was performed by the German cellist Daniel Müller-Schott.

Dvořák’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in B minor from 1894 to 1895 is recommended as “the most beautiful cello concerto of all time”, although its author hesitated for several days before starting work to choose cello, violin or piano as a solo instrument. The concert was first performed on March 19, 1896 in London and soon became part of the repertoire of all world cellists. Müller-Schott played it on a rare Venetian instrument from the workshop of Matteo Goffriller from 1727.

Without him, the orchestra played the famous symphony number 9 in E minor From the New World. The audience rewarded the performer with a long standing ovation, for which he earned an addition from Orozco-Estrada and the orchestra. The famous cellist also photographed the enthusiastic applause in Dvořák’s historic Rudolfinum Hall from an open door.

The festival, which this year celebrates 180 years since the composer’s birth, will last until September 24. In the next almost three weeks, the festival will feature the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra with Herbert Blomstedt, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra with Jakub Hrůša, and pianists András Schiff and Boris Giltburg.

The work of Antonín Dvořák is the core of the program. In the following days, visitors can look forward to all four piano trios, performed by Boris Giltburg and the Pavel Haas Quartet. Both of Dvořák’s Piano Quintets will be performed on September 20 at a concert by András Schiff and the Panoch Quartet, Slavonic Dances performed by the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra on September 21, and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra on September 24. A reminder of 1100 years since the assassination of St. Ludmila will be the performance of Dvořák’s monumental oratorio St. Ludmila in St. Vitus Cathedral on September 16.

Last year’s Dvořák Prague was opened by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra on September 4. The orchestra under the baton of chief conductor Semyon Byčkov played the same two works by Dvořák – a cello concerto in B minor and the New World Symphony. According to the organizers, the festival was visited by approximately 10,000 spectators last year. Even this year, I have to have all respirators and a certificate of vaccination, test or covid-19.

Dvořák music festival