Czech Philharmonic: Bedřich Smetana and Antonín Dvořák
Saturday 23 November 2024 / 8pm / Hotel Thermal, Grand Hall
Dress code: Black Tie
The second part of the Czech Philharmonic’s exclusive planned program for New York’s Carnegie Hall. Semyon Bychkov conducts three poems from Smetana’s Má vlast and Dvořák’s Piano Concerto in G minor.
Program:
Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904): Piano Concerto in G minor, Op. 33
Allegro agitato
Andante sostenuto
Finale. Allegro con fuoco
Bedřich Smetana (1824–1884): Vyšehrad, Vltava, Šárka, symphonic poems from the cycle Má vlast (My Country)
Performed by:
Czech Philharmonic
Conductor:
Semyon Bychkov
Piano:
Ivo Kahánek
About the program:
Antonín Dvořák was already a composer of genius by 1876, when he wrote his Piano Concerto in G minor, Op. 33, although he was essentially known only to the Prague public. In 1883, Dvořák made major revisions to the score, giving the work its ideally polished sound. An important chapter in the concerto’s performance history in the 20th century relates to an arrangement of the solo part made by the Prague piano virtuoso and teacher Vilém Kurz fifteen years after Dvořák’s death. Several of his pupils and other pianists played the concerto in that form even long after such arrangements had ceased to be fashionable, when, to the contrary, there were increasing efforts towards the most faithful possible interpretations of composers’ intentions.
By the time that Bedřich Smetana was in Sweden in the 1850s, he had begun to take interest in a recent musical discovery known as the symphonic poem. He wrote the extraordinary musical cycle Má vlast (My Country), a unique concept in all of music history worldwide, from 1874 to 1879. By that time, he was totally deaf. He used music to portray the myths and history of Bohemia, the country where he lived, and also his vision of the “resurrection of the Czech nation,” which was then one of the nations of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. For this very reason, Smetana’s Má vlast enjoys a unique position in Czech musical tradition.
Semyon Bychkov
Semyon Bychkov is the Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Czech Philharmonic. In addition to conducting at Prague’s Rudolfinum, Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic in the 2023/2024 season, took the all Dvořák programmes to Korea and across Japan. In spring, took the programmes to Spain, Austria, Germany, Belgium, and France and, at the end of year, the Year of Czech Music 2024 will culminate with three concerts at Carnegie Hall in New York.
Among the significant joint achievements of Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic is the release of a 7-CD box set devoted to Tchaikovsky’s symphonic repertoire and a series of international residencies.
In addition to guest engagements with the world’s major orchestras and opera houses, Bychkov holds honorary titles with the BBC Symphony Orchestra – with whom he appears annually at the BBC Proms – and the Royal Academy of Music, who recently awarded him an Honorary Doctorate. Bychkov was named “Conductor of the Year” by the International Opera Awards in 2015 and, by Musical America in 2022.
Ivo Kahánek
A musician of tremendous emotional power, depth and expressiveness, Ivo Kahánek has gained a reputation as one of the most exciting artists of his generation and is the Czech Republic’s most acclaimed pianist. He performs regularly with the Czech Philharmonic and has also appeared on stage in front of the many others world-famous orchestras. He also regularly appears on and records for both Czech Radio and Czech Television and has already released thirteen CDs on the Supraphon Music label. Ivo Kahánek is a graduate of the Janáček Conservatoire in Ostrava, the Academy of Per-forming Arts in Prague and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Kahánek came to public attention after winning the Concertino Praga and, in 2004, the Prague Spring International Music Competition. He was subsequently a prize winner at many other competitions. In 2014, Kahánek was selected by Sir Simon Rattle to perform two critically acclaimed concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic. He is only the second Czech pianist after Rudolf Firkušný to perform with this legendary orchestra.