With the music of Josef Suk and Antonín Dvořák, the PKF – Prague Philharmonia started its jubilee 30th season this Wednesday in a packed Rudolfinum in Prague. It was led by chief conductor Emmanuel Villaume, the soloist in the second half of the evening was cellist Jan Vogler. The German artist presented himself with a Stradivari Ex Castelbarco/Fau instrument from 1707 in Dvořák’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in B minor.
For the beginning of the season, PKF selected works by Czech authors who were close to each other. Suk was a pupil of Antonín Dvořák and, according to experts, the teacher’s influence is particularly evident in his early work. In addition, Suk married Dvořák’s daughter Otilia in 1898.
Wednesday’s concert started with Sukov A fantastic scherzo, one of his smaller works. Dvořák followed A hard suite called American, in which the author says goodbye to the United States and to the practices derived from the music there. Dvořák lived in the USA from 1892 to 1895.
At the very end of the American engagement he also composed Concerto for violoncello in B minor. A key piece of literature for this instrument was presented this Wednesday by Jan Vogler, a native of Berlin who lives in New York and performs with orchestras around the world. Dvořák’s cello concerto filmed in 2005 with the New York Philharmonic, last year issued album with Dvořák’s chamber compositions.
In the 2023/2024 season, PKF will offer nine concerts in the main orchestral cycle, five of which will be conducted by its French music director, Villaum.
The theme of the chamber cycle will be Czech music and the anniversary of important local composers, such as, in addition to Dvořák, Bedřich Smetana, Leoš Janáček and Pavel Haas. Téleso will also honor neglected authors and present the works of Vítězslava Kaprálova, Václav Pichl, Iša Krejčí or Václav Jindřich Veit.
A picture from Wednesday’s opening of the PKF season. | Photo: CTK
In the jubilee concert season, PKF also prepared six evenings of contemporary music dedicated to the current Czechoslovak generation. From September 25, the cycle will move to the newly renovated Švand Theater Studio. In addition, the orchestra is planning events for children, and the Lobkowicz subscription donation series will continue.
The non-profit society PKF – Prague Philharmonia was founded in 1994 by the conductor Jiří Bělohlávek as the Prague Chamber Philharmonic, after whom it was led by Kaspar Zehnder and Jakub Hrůša. Villaume has been at its head since 2015, last year he extended his contract for another three seasons.
PKF regularly performs with world-renowned conductors and soloists and has recorded more than nine dozen discs for prestigious international and domestic publishing houses. “If an artistic body survives for thirty years, and with such an excellent reputation, then I think it makes sense, it is of quality, justified and justified,” said Emmanuel Villaume.
