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Current AffairsCzechs "effortlessly musical", says conductor Kerry Stratton
The Canadian conductor Kerry Stratton has worked with several leading Czech
orchestras and made numerous recordings of Czech classical music. He was
recently honoured for his dedication to Czech music, when he received an
award from the Czech Foreign Ministry. I spoke to Kerry Stratton at the
awards ceremony, and first asked him how a Canadian came to be work with
so many Czech orchestras.
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Czech MusicCzech Radio revives the Proud Princess
Today we look at two very different recordings. The first is by a 20th
century Czech composer whose name is almost forgotten, but whose music is
familiar to every Czech child. The second offers intriguing insights into
changes in the way music was played in the course of the 18th century.
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Current AffairsLitomysl Festival fills Smetana's birthplace with the best of opera and classical music
Smetana's Litomysl International Opera Festival is the largest open-air
classical music festival in the Czech Republic. Eva Urbanova launches the
traditional Smetana's Litomysl International Opera Festival on Friday; the
popular Czech soprano is now celebrating twenty years of a most impressive
career. Dita Asiedu takes a closer look at the important annual event:
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Czech MusicEncore: A taste of spring and a cage for two nightingales
Today we bring you no less than two father-and-daughter musical teams, with
music by Czech composers Jan Novak, Lubos Sluka and Jaroslav Ridky, as well
as an excellent recent Martinu recording, featuring the composer's two
piano quintets and his Sonata for two violins.
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ArtsExhibition follows Antonin Dvorak's footsteps through Prague
Admirers of the music of Czech composer Antonin Dvorak remembered the great
master this week, on May 1st, which marked 103 years since his death here
in Prague. A new exhibition has just opened at the Antonin Dvorak Museum
in Prague looking at the composer's relation to the Czech capital where he
lived for almost 47 years.
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Czech MusicEncore: The Stamic Quartet plays music by composers who perished in the Holocaust
Today we devote the whole of Encore to one disk. It is entitled 'Czech
String Quartet Discoveries' and was issued privately by the celebrated
Stamic Quartet - making it rather difficult to get hold of, but well worth
the trouble. It features music by Pavel Haas - whose 'From the Monkey
Mountains' quartet we discussed last month - and Erwin Schulhoff, Hans
Krasa and Leos Janacek. All of these, with of course the exception of
Janacek, are composers who perished in Nazi concentration camps.
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Current AffairsPrague Premieres: New music heading for the Czech Capital
If you listen regularly to our programme, you'll know that the city of
Prague holds a lot of prestigious classical music events such as the
Prague Spring competition. The Prague Premieres festival is one such
event. Its unique selling point is that it concentrates solely on new
classical music and has become the most important showcase of its kind in
the Czech capital since it started in 2004. The compositions performed at
the Prague Premieres festival are either completely new or not more than
five years old. Besides compositions from the Czech Republic, this year's
festival is concentrating on new music from Scandinavia and will introduce
composers from Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, and Norway. More
Czech MusicEncore: Music from the Monkey Mountains, and a violinist who dreamed of the organ
In this edition of Encore - with a strong Moravian flavour - we discuss an
impressive first recording by the young Pavel Haas String Quartet, and we
also look at a violinist who composed for the organ in his spare time.
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SpecialKarel Janovicky - Czech sputniks in suburban London
Karel Janovicky has had a distinguished career as a composer, pianist,
writer and broadcaster, and at 77 is still full of energy. When I
interviewed him in his study in the family's house in North London, there
were few signs that he might be contemplating retirement. His latest
composition, a sonata for clarinet and piano, lay open on the upright
piano in the corner, as he added a few finishing touches, and the room was
full of books, scores and articles. More
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