Thu, 26. 9. 2019, 7.00 p.m.
CELEBRATING WITH MARTINŮ
Venue: Zlín Congress Centre | Organizer: Filharmonie Bohuslava Martinů, o.p.s. |
OPENING CONCERT OF THE HARMONIA MORAVIAE FESTIVAL
MARTINŮ: Half–time, H.142
DVOŘÁK: Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104
JANÁČEK: Sinfonietta
LEONARD ELSCHENBROICH, cello
BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ PHILHARMONIC
TOMÁŠ BRAUNER, conductor
During its 2019–20 concert season the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra will be marking a number of significant musical milestones. Among the most important of these are the anniversary of the birth 130 years ago of Bohuslav Martinů, after whom the Zlín symphony orchestra has been proudly named for the past 30 years, and the 60th anniversary of the same composer's death. It is thus Martinů, who played such a fundamental part in the development of modern Czech music, who is the main focus of our 17th Harmonia Moraviae International Music Festival.
The composer of the first work in the Festival can therefore be none other than Martinů himself. His piece Half–time (Poločas) was written in 1924, when he made frequent trips between his native Polička and Paris.
The concert's Czech connection continues with Antonín Dvořák's exquisite cello concerto Opus 104, which is undoubtedly one of the composer's most outstanding works. Our soloist tonight is the prominent German cellist Leonard Elschenbroich, who appears regularly with the world's leading orchestras.
The concert concludes with Leoš Janáček's Sinfonietta, a lively work closely associated with the Sokol movement and inspired by a visit to a promenade concert of military music in Písek. Janáček wrote the piece for the Eighth Sokol Festival in Prague in 1926 to great acclaim, and its spectacular effect has, over time, won it a permanent place in the repertoire of practically every Czech symphony orchestra.
Wielding the baton for this opening concert of the 2019-2020 subscription season is the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic's Chief Conductor Tomáš Brauner.