Josef Suk began composing his funeral symphony Asrael while grieving over the death of his father-in-law Antonín Dvořák, then as he was working on the piece, Suk’s wife, Dvořák’s daughter Otilka, died as well. To this great work full of immense human suffering he gave the name of the Islamic and Hebrew angel of death. Gustav Mahler is, as it were, the unspoken godfather of Asrael. Suk’s symphonic masterpiece is both intoxicating and philosophical; it does not drive listeners to despair, but instead exhorts them to contemplate the inexorable nature of fate and to meditate on the eternal. Asrael is a symphony in which Suk recasts great personal sorrow into a masterpiece, a true milestone of Czech symphonic music, and a work worthy of standing alongside the world’s greatest compositions of the early twentieth century. The conductor Jakub Hrůša and the Czech Philharmonic will perform Asrael using the critical edition published in 2018 by Bärenreiter, which is based on not only Suk’s manuscript, but also corrections made later at the initiative of Václav Talich. On the first part of the programme will be the Violin Concerto in D Major by Ludwig van Beethoven with the outstanding violinist Jan Mráček playing the solo part.

“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

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 violinist Jan Mráček has been one of the most prominent performers of his generation. He began playing violin at the age of five, and he studied at the School of Music of the City of Prague and the Prague Conservatoire. At the age of 13 he first appeared on the stage of the Rudolfinum alongside Josef Suk. His many competition successes include second prize at the 2010 Prague Spring Competition, when at the age of 19 he became the youngest laureate in its history. He appears regularly with Václav Hudeček, and since 2012 he has been an assistant at the Václav Hudeček Academy. In 2011 he became the youngest soloist in the history of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, and three years later he won the Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition in Vienna. Since 2015 he has been serving as concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic. He appears as a soloist around the world together with such great conductors as Maxim Vengerov, James Judd, Jac van Steen, and Vladimir Fedoseyev.

The Rudolfinum is one of the most important Neo-Renaissance edifices in the Czech Republic. In its conception as a multi-purpose cultural centre it was quite unique in Europe at the time of its construction. Based on a joint design by two outstanding Czech architects, Josef Zítek and Josef Schultz, a magnificent building was erected serving for concerts, as a gallery, and as a museum. The grand opening on 7 February 1885 was attended by Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, in whose honour the structure was named. In 1896 the very first concert of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra took place in the Rudolfinum's main concert hall, under the baton of the composer Antonín Dvořák whose name was later bestowed on the hall.