Archive: Culture | Music Music
Josef Špaček – unforgettable at Prague Spring
In this week's Sunday Music Show we feature works from Czech violin
virtuoso Josef Špaček's debut. More
Pianist Diana Fanning: I want people to know about Leoš Janáček’s piano music
Organized by the International Dvorak Society, the American Spring music
festival (April 8th to July 4th) annually brings internationally renowned
soloists and music ensembles to a broad audience in the Czech Republic,
with concerts and master classes taking place in dozens of towns and
villages around the country. Among this year’s performers is pianist
Diana Fanning from Middlebury College, Vermont whose recent piano recital
featured music by the Czech composer Leoš Janáček. When she visited Radio
Prague’s studio shortly after the recital we talked about her passion for
a composer whose music many find hard to understand. More
68th annual Prague Spring International Music Festival underway
The 68th annual Prague Spring International Music Festival began on Sunday
with Bedřich Smetana’s Má Vlast (My Country) at Prague’s Municipal
House and is continuing with high-profile events until the beginning of
June. This week alone visitors will be able to attend the finale of the
Prague Spring International Music Competition, The Giacomo Variations
featuring American actor John Malkovich and a performance by Czech violin
virtuoso Josef Špaček to name only a few of the many events. More
Ahmed Má Hlad : traditional East European folk music with a fresh new sound
This week we are profiling the band Ahmed má hlad (Ahmed is hungry) a band
that revives and draws on Balkan and East European folk music, while giving
these traditional gems a modern slant. More
Violin virtuoso Josef Špaček
My guest in today’s Arts is violinist Josef Špaček, who has emerged as
one of the Czech Republic’s most talented virtuosos. Špaček – a
graduate from the Juilliard School – is a concertmaster with the Czech
Philharmonic and in less than a fortnight he will be performing at the
Prague Spring International Music Festival. He has also just released his
debut CD with recordings of Prokofiev, Janáček and Smetana. More
Marta Topferova's new album draws on Moravian music, landscape and folklore
In this special program we speak to the singer and songwriter Marta
Töpferová about her newest album Milokraj, her relationship to her home
country and her love of Moravian folk music. More
Rockers Schodiště mark 30 years on stage
The Prague-based rock band Schodiště, formerly known as Nahoru po
schodišti dolů band, this year marks 30 years on stage. Founded at the
height of the new wave, the band with its original sound and melancholic
lyrics, somewhat undermined by their irony and sarcasm, has evolved into a
steady fixture of the Czech rock scene. More
Raketon - a myriad of sounds on two strings
A one-of-a-kind instrument called raketon made its first public appearance
three years ago in a museum exhibit, but this week it had its debut in a
contemporary classical music concert, together with Prague’s Berg
Orchestra. I had a chance to speak to Raketon’s inventor Michal Cimala
and to composer Jakub Rataj who mastered this simple and elegant instrument
and wrote the first orchestral piece that includes it. Both of them perform
on the raketon as well by plucking, striking and touching its two strings
with bows, mallets and even milk frothers. More
Dan Bárta – Vocalist whose solo work demonstrates jazz chops
Dan Bárta has performed with a host of Czech bands over the years,
including the rock groups Alice and J.A.R., and Sexy Dancers, who were more
in the funk field, while he has also appeared in musicals. But this
programme mainly concentrates on the singer’s jazzy “solo” work over
the last 13 years with Illustratosphere and the Robert Balzar Trio. More
Czech ensemble performs Jan Dismas Zelenka’s forgotten Easter Mass
Recent years have seen a renewed interest in the work of great Baroque
composer Jan Dismas Zelenka – in his day admired by contemporaries like
Johann Sebastian Bach. His work was completely forgotten after his death,
only rediscovered 150 years later by the Romantic-period composer Bedřich
Smetana. Slowly, knowledge of Zelenka’s work emerged. Even now there is
plenty to be discovered: Prague’s Ensemble Inégal recently performed
Zelenka’s forgotten Easter Mass for the very first time. More
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