Variations Between Film and Music
An exclusive selection of music, performed by the Czech Philharmonic under the direction of American star conductor Keith Lockhart. Besides Korngold’s Violin Concerto in D Major featuring concertmaster Jiří Vodička, audiences will also hear Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 in G Minor, the Adagio from Janáček’s Idyll for Strings, and a cinematic orchestral suite by William Walton.
Program:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 25 in G Minor, K 183
Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35
Josef Mysliveček: Ezio, overture to the opera
Leoš Janáček: Idyll for Strings: Adagio
William Walton (arr. Muir Mathieson): Orchestral suite
Performed by:
Jiří Vodička – violin
Keith Lockhart – conductor
Czech Philharmonic
About program
At this year’s Variations, the combination of music and film is absolute. The concert’s opening notes take us to Vienna at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, to the room where a delirious Antonio Salieri confesses to the alleged murder of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It is the opening scene of Miloš Forman’s award-winning Amadeus, a film infused with the music of the Salzburg genius.
The protagonist of director Petr Václav’s Il Boemo is a composer as well – Josef Mysliveček. This son of a miller from Prague’s Lesser Town became one of the most recognized opera composers of the second half of the 18th century. In fact, the young Amadeus himself learned the rules of composing from him and remained Mysliveček’s friend for the rest of his life.
Příběh Houslového koncertu The story of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto in D Major, which was featured in several Hollywood films of the 1930s, is the exact opposite of what we are used to. The film melodies came first, and several years later the composer incorporated them into his only solo concerto for violin, which had its premiere in 1945.
Only two pieces of music in the cinematic adaptation of Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being are not from the world of classical music – Marta Kubišová’s version of Hey Jude and the folk song Joj, joj, joj, performed by Jarmila Šuláková. The rest of the film’s atmosphere was captured by the unique and temperamentally diverse music of Leoš Janáček. The idea to use his music supposedly came from Kundera himself, and it couldn’t have been any other way: after all, Kundera hailed from Brno as well and his musicologist and pianist father Ludvík had been personally acquainted with Janáček.
Britský film na motivy Shakespearovy hry Jindřich V. The British film based on Shakespeare’s Henry V and starring the legendary Laurence Olivier premiered in 1944. The film score was written by composer William Walton, and nineteen years later his colleague, the composer and conductor Muir Matheson, arranged it into a suite perfectly suited for the concert stage.
Jiří Vodička
Violin
Jiří Vodička is one of the most distinctive Czech violinists of his generation. His talent was already being noticed when he won several competitions as a child, and he soon began to perform in the Czech Republic and abroad. He was accepted to university at age fourteen and began to study under professor Zdeněk Gola. Today he is a widely recognized soloist who performs with leading orchestras at home and abroad. He has been the concert master of the Czech Philharmonic since 2015. His repertoire includes important works from the Classical and Romantic periods as well as projects that cross genre lines, for instance Vivaldianno. Thanks to his extraordinary technical skill, he is often called the “Czech Paganini.” He plays on an Italian Joseph Gagliano violin from the year 1774, provided on loan from the family of the Czech Philharmonic’s former head conductor Jiří Bělohlávek.
Keith Lockhart
Conductor
Keith Lockhart is a widely recognized American conductor whose musical career combines the worlds of classical and pop music. He spent nearly thirty years at the head of the famous Boston Pops orchestra, with which he performed thousands of concerts around the world, appearing at events such as the opening of the Winter Olympics or the celebration of Independence Day in Boston. He is also the artistic director of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina and the former chief conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra. Czech audiences will associate primarily with concerts by the Czech Philharmonic, including an open-air performance on Hradčany Square following the successful Best of Broadway program.
Violin
Jiří Vodička is one of the most distinctive Czech violinists of his generation. His talent was already being noticed when he won several competitions as a child, and he soon began to perform in the Czech Republic and abroad. He was accepted to university at age fourteen and began to study under professor Zdeněk Gola. Today he is a widely recognized soloist who performs with leading orchestras at home and abroad. He has been the concert master of the Czech Philharmonic since 2015. His repertoire includes important works from the Classical and Romantic periods as well as projects that cross genre lines, for instance Vivaldianno. Thanks to his extraordinary technical skill, he is often called the “Czech Paganini.” He plays on an Italian Joseph Gagliano violin from the year 1774, provided on loan from the family of the Czech Philharmonic’s former head conductor Jiří Bělohlávek.
Jiří Vodička is one of the most distinctive Czech violinists of his generation. His talent was already being noticed when he won several competitions as a child, and he soon began to perform in the Czech Republic and abroad. He was accepted to university at age fourteen and began to study under professor Zdeněk Gola. Today he is a widely recognized soloist who performs with leading orchestras at home and abroad. He has been the concert master of the Czech Philharmonic since 2015. His repertoire includes important works from the Classical and Romantic periods as well as projects that cross genre lines, for instance Vivaldianno. Thanks to his extraordinary technical skill, he is often called the “Czech Paganini.” He plays on an Italian Joseph Gagliano violin from the year 1774, provided on loan from the family of the Czech Philharmonic’s former head conductor Jiří Bělohlávek.
Conductor
Keith Lockhart is a widely recognized American conductor whose musical career combines the worlds of classical and pop music. He spent nearly thirty years at the head of the famous Boston Pops orchestra, with which he performed thousands of concerts around the world, appearing at events such as the opening of the Winter Olympics or the celebration of Independence Day in Boston. He is also the artistic director of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina and the former chief conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra. Czech audiences will associate primarily with concerts by the Czech Philharmonic, including an open-air performance on Hradčany Square following the successful Best of Broadway program.
Keith Lockhart is a widely recognized American conductor whose musical career combines the worlds of classical and pop music. He spent nearly thirty years at the head of the famous Boston Pops orchestra, with which he performed thousands of concerts around the world, appearing at events such as the opening of the Winter Olympics or the celebration of Independence Day in Boston. He is also the artistic director of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina and the former chief conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra. Czech audiences will associate primarily with concerts by the Czech Philharmonic, including an open-air performance on Hradčany Square following the successful Best of Broadway program.