Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 7
This concert aims to recreate the 1908 premiere of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 7. Although few structures from the Jubilee Exhibition remain today, the power of the music still lingers. It was here on the site of the Prague exhibition grounds that the successful premiere took place, performed under the baton of the composer himself by the combined orchestras of the Czech Philharmonic and the New German Theatre Orchestra of Prague. Following the post-war expulsion from Czechoslovakia, it was its former members who established the foundations of what is now known as the Bamberger Symphoniker in Bavaria.
The Jubilee Exhibition of the Trade and Business Chamber was an event that engrossed the Czech public and media from May to October of that year. The spectacular event showcased the Czech lands as the industrial heart of the Austrian Empire, bringing Czech culture to the fore. Alongside, the exhibition presented a fully constructed African village, inhabited by Indigenous people, and featured a slide that brought considerable amusement to the contemporary humour magazines. All that is gone. Nevertheless, the union of the Czech and German orchestras under the cosmopolitan Mahler’s conductorship reminds us that Prague can make a legitimate claim to the title of “the Heart of Europe”. Today, the Czech Philharmonic, the Bamberger Symphoniker, conductor Jakub Hrůša along with Mahler's Seventh rightfully take their place at the original premiere site for the upcoming open-air concert. They are also part of the Year of Czech Music in its broader sense, converging at this cultural hub in the heart of a united Europe.
7.00 pm concert venue opening for visitors
7.40 pm screening of a documentary about the 7th Symphony
8.15 pm first notes will be played - opening of the concert
Details of the United by Mahler project will be provided on the display panels next to the concert venue. The screening on the main stage will also include footage from the National Film Archive of the 1908 Jubilee Exhibition, where Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 was premiered.
The open air concert will take place at the Prague Exhibition Grounds (Výstaviště Praha) in Holešovice in front of the Industrial Palace. There will be a easy-to-read map with navigation to each section and the festival information service will be available to all visitors. In the event of a visitor arriving less than 5 minutes before the start of the concert, the organiser reserves the right to seat them in the nearest available seat so as not to disrupt the start or progress of the concert.
More information about the concert can be found at spojenimahlerem.cz.
“The Czech Philharmonic now played one of Dvořák’s finest symphonies with true passion, with a wide dynamic range and such dramatic effect that one might imagine that the composer himself sensed it. Semyon Bychkov deserves admiration for what he has uncovered in the score. With the precision and warmth that has always been this ensemble’s forte, he followed exquisitely on the interpretation of Dvořák's music presented by Václav Talich, one of the Czech Philharmonic's former chief conductors.”
aktualne.cz, 28 September, 2023
On 4 January, 1896, the 129-year-old Czech Philharmonic gave its first concert in the famed Rudolfinum Hall in the heart of Prague. Conducted by Antonín Dvořák, the programme featured the world premiere of his Biblical Songs Nos. 1 –5. Renowned for its definitive interpretations of the Czech repertoire, the orchestra also has a special relationship to the music of Brahms and Tchaikovsky – both friends of Dvořák – and to Mahler, who conducted the world premiere of his Symphony No. 7 with the Czech Philharmonic in 1908.
As festivals, orchestras and presenters across the Czech Republic and Europe mark 2024 as the Year of Czech Music with performances of rarely played Czech repertoire together with popular favourites, Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic open the 129th season with two performances of Dvořák’s Piano Concerto paired with Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique. The soloist, Daniil Trifinov, is one of three soloists who will join the orchestra in New York in December 2024 as part of Czech Week at Carnegie Hall. The orchestra will bring three programmes to New York which, in addition to the Piano Concerto, will feature Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with Yo-Yo Ma, and the Violin Concerto with Gil Shaham. The concertos will be paired with Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, three poem s from Smetana’s Má vlast and Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass for which they will be joined by the Prague Philharmonic Choir.
During 2024’s Year of Czech Music, Jakub Hrůša, the Czech Philharmonic’s principal guest conductor, will lead the orchestra in less familiar works by Pavel Zemek Novák, Vladimír Sommer, Josef Suk, and Luboš Fišer. Hrůša will also join the Czech Philharmonic in a tour of summer festivals including the Elbphilharmonie Summer, Lucerne Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, and the BBC Proms. Sir Simon Rattle, recently named principal guest conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, will conduct Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances and Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass as well as performances of Kurt Weill’s opera The Seven Deadly Sins. Returning to the orchestra during the 2024/2025 season are Tomáš Netopil, Giovanni Antonini, Ingo Metzmacher, Alain Altinoglu, and James Gaffigan, while Nathalie Stutz mann, Alan Gilbert, and Lukáš Vasilek will be making their debuts with the orchestra.
Over recent seasons, the focus of Semyon Bychkov’s work with the orchestra has turned to Mahler and a new complete symphonic cycle for Pentatone. The first two discs in the cycle, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and No. 5, were released in 2022, followed in 2023 by Symphonies No. 2 “Resurrection” and No. 1. Semyon Bychkov will follow up on his recent performance of Mahler’s Third Symphony with the Fifth and Eighth in our 2024/2025 season. Fifty years after the death of Dmitri Shostakovich, Bychkov will feature Shost akovich’s Cello Concerto and Symphony No. 5 on tour to Vienna, Amsterdam, London, Paris, and Bruges. Other major works conducted by Bychkov this season include Brahms’s Symphony No. 2, Schubert’s Symphony No. 2, Bach’s Mass in B minor, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2. Mahler, who gave the world premiere of his Symphony No. 7 with the Czech Philharmonic in 1908, was not the first composer of renown to conduct the Czech Philharmonic. Edward Grieg conducted the orchestra in 1906; Stravinsky performed his Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra under Václav Talich in 1930; Leonard Bernstein conducted the European premiere of Aaron Copland’s Symphony No. 3 at the Prague Spring Festival in 1947; Arthur Honegger conducted a concert of his own music in 1949; Darius Milhaud gave the premiere of his Music for Prague at the Prague Spring Festival in 1966; and, in 1996, Krzysztof Penderecki conducted the premiere of his Concerto for Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra.
Their names are joined by the many luminaries who have collaborated with the orchestra over the years: Martha Argerich, Claudio Arrau, Evgeny Kissin, Erich Kleiber, Leonid Kogan, Erich Leinsdorf, Lovro von Matačić, Ivan Moravec, Yevgeny Mravinsky, David Oistrakh, Antonio Pedrotti, Sviatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Wolfgang Schneiderhan, George Szell, Henryk Szeryng, Bruno Walter, and Alexander Zemlinsky. The Czech Philharmonic’s extraordinary and proud history reflects both its location in the very heart of Europe and Czech Republic’s turbulent political history, for which Smetana’s Má vlast (My Country) is a potent symbol. The orchestra gave its first full rendition of Má vlast in 1901; in 1925 under chief conductor Václav Talich, Má vlast was the orchestra’s first live broadcast and, five years later, it was the first work that the orchestra committed to disc. During the Nazi occupation, when Goebbels demanded that the orchestra perform in Berlin and Dre sden, Talich programmed Má vlast as an act of defiance, while in 1945 Rafael Kubelík conducted the work as a concert of thanks for the newly liberated Czechoslovakia. In 1990, Má vlast was Kubelík’s choice to mark Czechoslovakia’s first free elections, a historic event which was recognised 30 years later when Bychkov chose the occasion of the first Velvet Revolution concert to perform the complete cycle at the Rudofinum. The orchestra marked the 200th anniversary of Smetana’s birth with the release of Má vlast conducted by Bychkov.
An early champion of Martinů’s music, the Czech Philharmonic premiered his Czech Rhapsody in 1919 and its detailed inventory of Czech music undertaken by Václav Talich included the world premieres of Martinů’s Half-Time (1924), Janáček’s Sinfonietta (1926) and the Prague premiere of Janáček’s Taras Bulba (1924). Rafael Kubelík was also an advocate of Martinů’s music and premiered his Field Mass (1946) and Symphony No. 5 (1947), while Karel Ančerl conducted the premiere of Martinů’s Symphony No. 6 Fantaisies symphoniques (1956). Martinů’s Rhapsody Concerto performed by Antoine Tamestit will be included in 2024’s Velvet Revolution Concert. Throughout the Czech Philharmonic’s history, two features have remained at its core: its championing of Czech composers and its belief in the power of music to change lives. Defined from its inauguration as an organisation for the enhancement of musical art in Prague, and a pension organisation for the members of the National Theatre Orchestra in Prague, its widows and orphans, the proceeds from the four concerts that it performed each year helped to support members of the orchestra who could no longer play and the immediate family of deceased musicians. As early as the 1920’s, Václav Talich (chief conductor 1919 – 1941) pioneered concerts for workers, young people and other voluntary organisations including the Red Cross, the Czechoslovak Sokol and the Union of Slavic Women, and in 1923 gave three benefit concerts for Russian, Austrian, and German players including members of the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras. The philosophy is equally vibrant today. Alongside the Czech Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, Orchestral Academy, and Jiří Bělohlávek Prize for young musicians, a comprehensive education strategy engages with more than 400 schools. An inspirational music and song programme led by singer Ida Kelarová for the extensive Romany communities within the Czech Republic and Slovakia has helped many socially excluded families find a voice. As part of the Carnegie Hall residency in December 2024, four members of the Czech Philharmonic’s Orchestral Academy will travel to New York where they will join forces with four young musicians from the Carnegie Hall and four students from the Royal Academy of Music. The initiative is supported by the Semyon Bychkov Educational Enhancement Fund.
“The two orchestral works were truly the highlights of both concerts. The Czech Philharmonic lives this music with an infectious intensity. From the very first bar of the overture, it is palpable to what extent there is an inner tension, a special involvement and complicity. Everything adds to it. To begin with, the sound: full, round, with a timbre and a very special personality, a colour that is a seal of identity. It is one of the few orchestras whose sound has a different character.”
Scherzo, 15 October, 2023
source: Czech Philharmonic
The Bamberg Symphony is the only orchestra of world renown that is not based in a vibrant metropolis. Almost 10% of the local population subscribe to one of the orchestra’s five concert series, in many cases for decades. However, the ‘magnetic effect’ of the orchestra resonates far and wide: the traveling orchestra has been performing its characteristically dark, sombre, and warm sounds and the musical echo of its hometown throughout the world since 1946. With almost 7,500 concerts in over 500 cities and 63 countries, they have become a cultural ambassador for Bavaria and all of Germany. They regularly tour the USA, South America, Japan, and China, for example, and are invited by renowned concert halls and festivals worldwide. The Bamberg Symphony therefore briefly describes their mission as Resonating Worldwide.
The circumstances of its founding make the Bamberg Symphony a mirror of German history: in 1946, former members of the German Philharmonic Orchestra Prague met colleagues in Bamberg who also had to flee their homeland as a result of the war and post-war turmoil. Starting with the orchestra in Prague, its lines of tradition can be traced back to the 18th and 19th centuries. Thus, the roots of the Bamberg Symphony reach back to Mahler and Mozart. Since 2004, the orchestra has held the honorary title of Bavarian State Philharmonic Orchestra, and is substantially financed by the Free State of Bavaria.
Four principal conductors, Joseph Keilberth, James Loughran, Horst Stein, and Jonathan Nott, as well as Artistic Director Eugen Jochum have led the orchestra since 1946. With Czech Jakub Hrůša, the fifth principal conductor since 2016, a bridge has again been built between the historical roots of the Bamberg Symphony and the present day, more than 75 years after the orchestra was founded. They regularly perform with their honorary conductors Herbert Blomstedt and Christoph Eschenbach, as well as with other leading conductors such as Manfred Honeck, Andris Nelsons and Lahav Shani.
A not insignificant contribution to increasing the worldwide high profile of the Bamberg Symphony is also attributed to the countless concert broadcasts in cooperation with Bavarian Radio (BR) as well as various other radio, record, and CD productions. In 2019, the orchestra broke new ground with a recording of Smetana's »Má vlast« using the direct-to-disc process, in which the recording is made directly onto a disc without digital post-processing, creating a unique sound experience. The recording of Mahler’s 4th Symphony (2020; accentus music) was awarded the Annual Prize of the German Record Critics at the end of 2021. This was followed by a recording of Anton Bruckner’s 4th Symphony in all three versions, united in one edition – a unique project to date, which won the International Classical Music Award 2022. Subsequently, the orchestra also received the ICMA 2023 for its recording of Hans Rott’s 1st Symphony (2022; Deutsche Grammophon). The Bamberg Symphony completed a cycle of four double CDs with symphonies by Brahms and Dvořák (2018-2022; TUDOR). In November 2022, two of these CDs were awarded »Recording of the Month« by BBC Music Magazine.
The fact that this group also places a great deal of emphasis on programmatic content at their concerts is attested to by the award from the German Music Publishers Association for »The Best Concert Programme« in spring 2018. In 2020, the orchestra received the Bavarian State Prize for Music. In 2021, an audio book was published (accentus music) that musically retells the unique history of the Bamberg Symphony from Mozart in Prague to the present day.
Since 2022, the Bamberg Symphony has set itself the goal of acting and travelling in a more climate-friendly manner, e.g., using means of transportation powered by alternative energy sources. For larger tours and trips abroad, efforts are being made to optimize travel routes and tour procedures. Increasingly, the orchestra stays in one country or place for longer periods, e.g., to play residencies or lead educational projects joined by local artists. By financially supporting environmental projects, including those in concert locations, the orchestra is attempting to offset most of the CO2 emissions caused by its own travels.
source: Bamberger Symphoniker
Jakub Hrůša is Chief Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony and Principal Guest Conductor of both the Czech Philharmonic and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. From autumn 2025, he will take up the post of Music Director at the Royal Opera at Covent Garden in London.
He frequently appears as a guest conductor with the world’s greatest orchestras, including the Berlin, Vienna, Munich and New York Philharmonics, the Bavarian Radio, NHK, Chicago and Boston Symphonies, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Lucerne Festival, Royal Concertgebouw, Mahler Chamber and the Cleveland Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Dresden Staatskapelle, Orchestre de Paris, and Tonhalle Orchester Zürich.
He has led opera productions for the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House, Opéra National de Paris, Zurich Opera, and the Glyndebourne Festival. In 2022, he made his debut at the Salzburg Festival with a new production of Káťa Kabanová.
For his recordings with the Bamberg Symphony, he received an ICMA for Hans Rott’s 1st Symphony in 2023, previously an ICMA for Bruckner’s 4th Symphony, as well as the Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik for Mahler's 4th Symphony, as well as a BBC Music Magazine Award for Dvořák and Martinů Piano Concertos with Ivo Kahánek. In addition, he has received Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine Award nominations for Martinů Violin Concertos with Frank Peter Zimmermann.
Hrůša studied at Prague’s Academy of Performing Arts, where his teachers included Jiří Bělohlávek. He is President of the International Martinů Circle and The Dvořák Society. He was the inaugural recipient of the Sir Charles Mackerras Prize, and in 2020 was awarded the Antonín Dvořák Prize by the Czech Republic’s Academy of Classical Music, and – with the Bamberg Symphony – the Bavarian State Prize for Music. In 2023, Jakub Hrůša was awarded Honorary Membership to the Royal Academy of Music in London.
source: Bamberger Symphoniker
The Prague Exhibition Grounds (Výstaviště Praha), located in Prague 7, is a historic leisure complex. This area was created by separating a section of the Royal Game Park during the Jubilee Exhibition in 1891 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first Industrial Exhibition of 1791. It was here that prefabricated iron architecture was used for the first time in the Czech lands. The palace was completed in ten months in 1891 despite the exhibition grounds being affected by floods and severe frosts at the time. The building is an important artistic and technical monument and is used for exhibitions, festivals, and other cultural and entertainment events. Since February 2022, the site has been undergoing renovation and reconstruction work on part of the complex that had previously burnt down.
