The Dvořák Prague Festival will begin on September 8 with a cello concert
At the concert, Ferrández will perform Antonín Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor under the baton of conductor Chong Myong-whun, followed by Robert Schumann’s Cello Concerto the following evening. Until September 25, Dvořák Prague will offer almost three dozen performances and accompanying events. Journalists were informed about this today by festival director Jan Simon.
At the Rudolfinum, listeners can look forward to a concert performance of Rusalka with the Czech Philharmonic and conductor Semjon Byčkov, a concert by the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, or a recital by Argentine pianist Martha Argerichová as part of the Chamber Series. “As a pianist, I am extremely looking forward to this performance. To see one of the role models not only of mine, but actually of entire generations of pianists playing at our festival is a dream come true,” said festival director Simon.
As part of the World Orchestras, alongside the Munich Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra, London’s Royal Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra will perform. Under the patronage of members of the Pavel Haas Quartet, all of Dvořák’s string quartets will be performed in turn. They will be complemented by compositions chosen by each of the ensembles. Three quartets – Bennewitz’s, Sedláček’s and Zemlinski’s – invited to cooperate. These ensembles are supplemented every year by foreign ensembles, this year the Juilliard String Quartet and the Jerusalem Quartet will perform.
A permanent place in the program of Dvořák’s Prague is the series For the Future, focused on the presentation of the upcoming interpretation generation. Again this year, a student orchestra will perform in the Dvořák Hall – this time the invitation was accepted by the Symphony Orchestra of the Prague Conservatory under the direction of Petr Altrichter. On Friday, September 16, the festival will be the venue for the final competition round of Concertino Praga.
The new program is Dvořák’s Praha na Bořislavka, which will take place in the space of the new headquarters of the Karel Komárek Family Foundation and thus underline the connection of the festival with its main patron.
The Czech Philharmonic once again accepted the status of resident orchestra. Under the leadership of his chief conductor Byčkov, he will perform the Dvořák program on September 19, 21 and 23. Also this year, Dvořák’s Prague is preparing accompanying programs In the footsteps of Antonín Dvořák or the traditional Family Day and Family Concert. The audience can also look forward to interviews with the artists after the concert.
According to the organizers of the festival with a budget of 62 million crowns, after two years of covid, audience interest in tickets has returned to the level of 2019, some evenings are already almost sold out. To date, they have sold over 8,000 tickets.