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Current AffairsPrague Spring Music Festival set to launch 65th year
Just a week to go and the 65th International Prague Spring Music Festival
takes to the many stages of the Czech capital. This year will see more than
60 concerts, theatre performances and other events and bring some of the
world’s best composers and musicians to Prague. And what’s more, young
performers will also about at this, one of Europe’s most important music
festivals.
More
SpecialBedřich Smetana's "My Country" - a symphonic poem to the nation
October 28 is an important holiday in the Czech Republic as the day that
the Czechoslovak - and thereby Czech - nation was born out of the ashes of
the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918. That moment of independence was the
triumph of a hundred-year mission to rebuild a national identity out of a
dozen generations of Austrian rule. It is called the Czech National
Revival, a cultural movement that re-awoke interest in Czech history, gave
a new lease to the Czech language and pushed Czech art, and particularly
music, to the forefront of Europe. As we mark the independence of
Czechoslovakia, I’d like to take you through one of the greatest musical
manifestations of the National Revival, and that is the symphonic cycle
Má
Vlast, or My Country, by Bedřich Smetana. More
Current AffairsAnnual opera festival underway in Bedřich Smetana's hometown
The East Bohemian town of Litomyšl has a lot to boast of, from its UNESCO
World Heritage status to its lively year-round atmosphere. Nonetheless,
what this town of 10,000 most frequently boasts of is that it is the
birthplace of the composer Bedřich Smetana, and since 1949 it has been the
home of a major music festival that bears his name. Now in its 60th year,
Smetana's Litomyšl Festival continues to draw some of the biggest
personages in classical music.
More
One on OneJordi Savall brings early music out of the meuseum and back to the stage
The Catalonian musician Jordi Savall has been a major force in the
promotion of early music for some forty years now and has been the key
figure in bringing some ancient instruments out of the museum and back to
the stage, particularly the viola da gamba. One of the star performers of
this year’s Prague Spring International Music Festival, Mr Savall and
his
three ensembles have recorded well over a hundred records and scored a
number of films, including the acclaimed 1995 film All the Mornings of the
World, which won him a César award, the French national film prize. I
spoke with the maestro in a magnificent rehearsal room in Prague’s
Rudolfinum concert hall where he recalled his memories of another Prague
Spring – that of 1968. More
ArtsPrague Spring Music Festival in full bloom
Spring has come again to Prague and with it the Prague Spring Festival. For
those of you not in the know, think not flowers and spring showers, but
rather Mendelssohn, Mozart, and the climax of the classical music calendar
in the Czech Republic. Perhaps however classical music’s simply not your
thing – in that case this is the classical festival for you. In Arts
this
week, Christian Falvey reports on the start of the three-week Prague
Spring
International Music Festival. More
Current AffairsPrague Spring International Music Festival opens 64th Year
The city of Prague has been at the forefront of classical music at least
since Mozart uttered the famous words "Meine Prager verstehen
mich" ("My Praguers understand me") and premiered his works
here. The Czech metropolis continues to celebrate its lofty music heritage
today with the annual Prague Spring festival, one of the largest and best
known classical music festivals in Central Europe, which commences on
Tuesday, as every year with a performance of Bedřich Smetana’s My
Country. More
Current Affairs50th Smetana’s Litomyšl opening with new production of the Bartered Bride
Wednesday sees the opening of the 50th Smetana’s Litomyšl International
Opera Festival. During the annual event, composer Bedřich Smetana’s
home
town in east Bohemia is transformed into a paradise for music lovers, and
not only opera buffs – Smetana’s Litomyšl also takes in various other
musical forms. More
Current AffairsSymphony orchestras face off in football friendly
Many fans of classical music in the Czech capital have been closely
following the Prague Spring Festival drawing to a close this week. But how
many knew that some of these classical musicians also play football? On
Sunday members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra faced the Czech Radio Symphony
in a 5-aside football friendly in Prague’s Hanspaulka district.
More
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