There is a saying that the bass part binds music together, but in classical music the contrabass can do much more. It creates a strong foundation on which everything else can stand, but it is also becoming a solo instrument with possibilities nothing short of what the violin can offer. Serge Koussevitzky, the long-famed conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, wrote a concerto for that instrument. And did you know that there is even a transcription of Dvořák’s Cello Concerto for contrabass?
Leading the Dvořák Prague Festival Masterclasses will be the principal bassist of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Wies de Boevé, who is also a university professor in Zurich.
Those interested in active participation can apply by sending a CV (max. 900 characters) to the email address stehlikova@dvorakovapraha.cz by 31 July 2023. The age limit for participants is 25.
Public masterclasses are yet another way that the Academy of Classical Music at the Dvořák Prague Festival is working to promote the education of musicians. As an auxiliary programme in the series For the Future, it gives young musicians the chance to play before exceptional artists and to consult on their views on the interpretation of a work with performers who have invaluable experience on the world’s great stages. A masterclass is a unique opportunity for the public to witness the final phase of preparing an interpretation. Rather than a usual lesson, it is an exchange of artistic opinions. It gives an exciting insight into the final phase of a young artist’s preparation before the moment when her or she appears in the concert arena with a finished interpretive conception in order to share an artistic opinion with the public.
You can buy tickets to a masterclass for CZK 200. Ticket prices are reduced by 50% for students at elementary schools of the arts, conservatoires, the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, and students at other schools of the arts. To get the discount code, please contact us at infopoint@dvorakovapraha.cz
Winner of six international music competitions, Wies de Boevé is widely regarded as one of the foremost contemporary double bass players. In 2015, he became the first double bass player to win the German Music Competition in its 40-year history. The following year, he won an award at the 65th ARD International Music Competition, and in 2017, he won first prize at the renowned Bottesini Competition.
As principal double bass of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, he has had the opportunity to collaborate with some of today’s foremost conductors. He has also performed with other prestigious orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra.
Wies de Boevé takes pleasure in presenting lesser-known solo double bass repertoire to his audiences. Whether in double bass concerts accompanied by an orchestra or in solo piano recitals, his performances never fail to captivate. His first CD featuring original compositions from the 19th and 20th centuries was released by GENUIN in 2016. In January 2020, Warner Classics released his second CD titled Via Bottesini, which contains concertos by Italian double bass virtuoso Giovanni Bottesini. He collaborated with musicians such as Isabelle Faust, Lorenzo Coppola, and Reinhold Friedrich to record Stravinsky’s “A Soldier’s Tale” for the Harmonia Mundi record label. As a chamber musician, he is often invited to prestigious festivals and has shared the stage with notable artists including Janine Jansen, Bruno Giuranna, Christoph Coin, Christian Poltéra and Pascal Moraguès.
Wies de Boevé holds teaching positions at both the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste in Switzerland and as a professor at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid. He teaches at the Orchestral Academy of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and conducts masterclasses all over the world, including an annual masterclass at the Tibor Varga Academy in Sion. Since 2013, he has also served as a double bass instructor for the European Union Youth Orchestra
The masterclass will be held in the Small Piano Hall (room No. 1034), situated at the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in the late Baroque Lichtenstein Palace in Prague's Lesser Town. The building also includes the Bohuslav Martinů Hall with a capacity of 200 people and the Gallery Concert Hall for 130 people. Both halls are mainly used for graduation concerts and more intimate events. The palace is protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic.
