Those of us who go to performances and always sit on the dark side of the hall have a unique chance to share the warmth of the spotlight. A little. Prague offers three annual events that are billed like regular performances. But after going to them, you might have noticed that these were somehow just a little different … special … with a unique kind of warmth. That’s because the…
Tag: Miroslav Setnička
30 Looks at 69.857142857
The Producers of Edge, all in their 30s, work with the cast of 69.857142857 – that’s the average age of the seven performers. Krzysztof Raczkowski, a ballet dancer/actor, is the youngest one. He’s only 59. At the other end of the age scale, Martin Bálik, a set designer and narrator, is 84. And the rest of the lively cast of still young, so-called “old agers” are professionally-trained dancers with long…
Youth Leader
He wanted to conduct, so he formed an orchestra. He’s 25. If you see Chuhei Iwasaki walking down the street with his friends, he looks like any other lively Czech student, except he’s rather slender, and from Japan. Before a concert at The Dvořák Museum, he goofs around with his friends, straightening one boy’s necktie, joking with the girls, checking his mobile and stashing it in a pocket. But when…
Who Is the Most Powerful?
The Prague Chamber Ballet settles the question. Who Is the Most Powerful in the World? The answer is supposed to be love, actually. But with the Prague Chamber Ballet’s (Pražský Komorní Balet) current production of this children’s tale, a strong case could be made for “art” as well. Consider: The music is by Bohuslav Martinů, written just before he left Prague for Paris in 1923. It’s conducted by Jiří Bělohlavek,…
Balancing Acts
In The Prague Philharmonic Choir’s Ingenious Matchup, it’s Voice Facing Off against Instrument You generally hear large mixed choirs either a cappella or in conjunction with symphony orchestras, as in the final movements of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. In their performance Feb 1 at the Lichtenstein Palace, the Prague Philharmonic Choir offered a third alternative. The massed voices of the choir were balanced against groups of instruments that are generally heard…
Seznamte se: Jiří Teml
Začal jako ekonom, poté se stal rozhlasovým hudebním dramaturgem; každopádně tento rezidenční skladatel FOK si našel svoji jedinečnou hudební řeč. „Moje hudební kariéra nebyla vždy snadná a přímočará,“ přiznává Jiří Teml v programu Symfonického orchestru hl. m. Prahy FOK. „Naopak se odvíjela poměrně zvláštní cestou.“ Vystudovaný ekonom pracující v oboru začal navštěvovat soukromé hodiny hudební teorie a hudební kompozice, na které nakonec docházel déle než 10 let. Jako u mnoha úspěšných skladatelů…
Meet Mr Teml
He started out as an economist, then became a radio music producer; but this FOK composer-in-residence has found his own unique musical voice. “My musical career has not always been easy and straight-forward,” admits Jiří Teml, writing in the Prague Symphony Orchestra (FOK) program book. “On the contrary, it has followed a rather unusual path.” Trained and working in the field of economics, he began taking private music theory and…
Much More than Nothing
What Happens When You Don’t Get the Grant? Sometimes, Much More than Nothing … “Originally, we planned to do a ‘normal’ dance project, with six to eight weeks for planning and rehearsals,” explains Karolina Hejnová. “But then we didn’t get the subsidy.” She’s telling Opus Osm how the collaborative contemporary dance piece Much More than Nothing was nearly finished before it started. But its creators, the dance group Me-Sa and…
M is For … (and Win Free Tickets)
420People and The Berg prove that M is not only for music, but also for movement – a captivating mélange for viewers. The mid-December premiere of M is For … offered audiences a quirky but fascinating early Christmas gift when the Berg Orchestra teamed up with dance ensemble 420People. And now this team is wrapping up their package to be opened again on Feb 20, just after Valentine’s Day. The…
57 strun: Když se harfa setká s kytarou
Jak díky nedostatku volných tříd vzniklo duo The Czech translation of an article published Jan 31 on Opus Osm „Potkaly jsme se asi před třemi lety na chodbě HAMU (Hudební fakulty Akademie múzických umění),“ vypráví pro Opus Osm studentka harfy Hana Hrachovinová. „Nebyly volné třídy, a tak jsem seděla před harfovou třídou a hrála Bachovu Suitu e moll. A Lucka (kytaristka Lucie Šťavíková) šla okolo – kytarová třída je hned…
Strings and Pegs: Where Harp Meets Guitar
How Crowded Music Academy Practice Rooms Led to New Duo “We met about three years ago, in the corridor at HAMU (the Academy of Music),” harp student Hana Hrachovinová tells Opus Osm. “There were no empty practice rooms so I was sitting in front of the harp room door, playing Bach’s Suite in E Minor. And Lucka (guitarist Lucie Št’avíková) went by — the guitar room is just next door…
Sailing Troubled Waters
If you’re not a professional musician, you might think a concert stage that holds only a single musician and a big black Steinway could mean you’re in for a little rough going. But pianist Libor Novaček Jr, proved his seasoned interpretive skills in FOK’s World Piano concert Dec 15 at the Rudolfinum. He led us safely through the many changeable moods of Beethoven’s Sonata No 3, sailed beautifully through the…
Pochopení v Novém světě
Note: This is the Czech translation of the article, Sympathy from the New World, which was published in English on Opus Osm Dec 3. Hudebníci z New Yorku mluví o současné americké hudební scéně Představte si, že založíte nový hudební soubor, který bude mít 20 až 30 koncertů za rok místo obvyklého půl tuctu nebo méně. Bylo by to možné? Jaké tajemství vede k takovému úspěchu? Violistka Elizabeth Weisser a…
Heart-to-Harp / Pohádkové tóny Zeměplochy
Heart-to-Harp The boyfriend wrote it, the girlfriend played it: The story behind two HAMU students and The Fantastic Discworld Concertino for Harp and Chamber Orchestra. “I had been working on a solo harp piece,” composer Martin Klusák says, “but then my composition teacher, Prof Ivana Loudová, suggested that I write an entire concertino for harp and orchestra.” He’s telling Opus Osm how the work of composing his concertino, performed recently…
