Concertino Praga 2021 - Final Competition Round in Concert, Chamber Music Category
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49
Max Bruch: 8 Pieces for clarinet, viola and piano, op. 83
Dmitrij Šostakovič: Five Pieces for 2 Violins and Piano
George Gershwin: Three preludes
Jean Matitia: The Devil's Rag
Zoltán Kodály: Duo for Violin and Cello, Op. 7
Alexandr Borodin: String Quartet in D major no. 2
Grażyna Bacewicz: String Quartet No. 4
In the realm of classical music, chamber music is a royal discipline that demands the virtuosity of a soloist from every player in combination with a collective mental approach. The performances of the chamber ensembles that advance to the finals of the Concertino Praga competition will be a presentation of great musical promise. Listeners will have the opportunity of witnessing how subtle the differences are that separate excellent performances from the very best ones. Everyone will also have a chance to make their own predictions about which contestants we will be seeing as stars of the festival in a few years.
Czech Radio and the Academy of Classical Music have announced the holding of the Concertino Praga – Antonín Dvořák International Radio Competition for young musicians in the category of chamber music. Duos, trios, quartets, quintets, and sextets with any combination of instruments may participate.
Among the jury members will be the conductor Jakub Hrůša, the former principal clarinettist of the London Symphony Orchestra Andrew Marriner, the violinist Václav Hudeček, the principal oboist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra Alexei Ogrintchouk, and the pianist Milan Langer.
The INNsolitus trio was established in spring 2020 by the Bubreg brothers, i.e. the clarinettist Bence Bubreg and the saxophonist Marton Bubreg, along with the pianist Felix Niederstätter. The initial reason for creating the ensemble was their participation at the Prima la Musica music competition. As a special prize, the trio was given an opportunity to perform at the Erl concert hall in Austria. The trio performed at the famous Vienna Konzerthaus in the summer of 2020 at the invitation of the Musica Juventutis association. Extracts from this concert were broadcast in the Intrada program on the Ö1 radio station. The trio performed together with bass guitarist Raphael Niederstätter at the opening of the Talent Stage of Dvořák Prague Festival 2020.
The Mráček–Pěruška duo was established in the autumn of 2019 when its members undertook a trip to New York thanks to a joint program run by the Prague Conservatory and the New York Steinhardt University. In addition to participating at master classes and seminars, the duo also performed at a concert at the Czech consulate. Both performers prepared a solo repertoire and a duet for violin and violoncello for this occasion. Since then, they have continued playing together. The international pandemic has meant that they have been unable to carry out more performances with the exception of one online performance at the Culture in the Heart of Prague (Kultura v srdci Prahy) Festival, where they played in the concert hall of the Prague Conservatory. Kristian Mráček and David Pěruška have been studying at the Prague Conservatory since 2018, both have participated in various national and international competitions and they have already attained several successful finishes and completed a number of solo performances.
The Veloce String Quartet was established in Warsaw in March 2021. This is a young ensemble, but its members have a great deal of experience in playing chamber music. The fact that they all live together at the Arts Education Hostel in Warsaw meant that they were able to rehearse without any significant limitations. The ensemble operates under the leadership of significant Polish performers: the violinist Katarzyna Duda and the violoncellist Rafał Kwiatkowski. It performs under the patronage of the Pro Musica association located in the Western Polish town of Zielona Góra and under the patronage of ZPSM Music School no. 1 in Warsaw.
The Vyšehrad Trio was established in Prague in 2018. The pianist Pavol Praženica is studying under Associate Professor MgA. Libuše Tichá, PhD and the violinist Natálie Toperczerová is studying under Štěpán Ježek; both of them are students at the Grammar School and Music School of the Capital City Prague. David Pěruška is studying the violoncello under Mgr. Jaroslav Kulhan at the Prague Conservatory. The members of the piano trio have completed a number of solo success in addition to their cooperation as a chamber ensemble and at the same time they are also involved in orchestral playing. The ensemble is led by MgA. Martina Hájková as part of the grammar school’s lessons and the ensemble has also had the opportunity to work with Associate Professor MgA. Leoš Čepický. The Vyšehrad Trio has had concerts at, for example, the Czech Embassy in Berlin, the Martinů Hall at the Liechtenstein Palace, the Saint Charles Borromeo Home or the J. A. Comenius National Teaching Museum in Prague. The ensemble’s favourite repertoire includes Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy or Sergei Rachmaninov.
The Convent of St. Agnes in the 'Na Františku' neighbourhood of Prague's Old Town is considered the first Gothic structure not only in Prague but in all of Bohemia. It was founded by King Wenceslas I in 1233–34 at the instigation of his sister, the Přemyslid princess Agnes of Bohemia, for the Order of Saint Clare which Agnes introduced into Bohemia and of which she was the first abbess. The convent was preceded by a hospital. The 'Poor Clares' originated as an offshoot of the Order of St. Francis of Assisi, and the convent was at one time known as the Prague Assisi. Agnes was an outstanding figure in religious life of the thirteenth century. Besides this Clarist convent she also founded the only Czech religious order – the Hospital Order of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star. She was canonized in 1989.
