Josef Suk: Praga, Symphonic Poem, Op. 26
Camille Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 5 in F Major, Op. 103, ʻEgyptianʻ
Igor Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
In September, the Prague Symphony Orchestra begins its second season under the baton of its new chief conductor, Tomáš Brauner. At the Dvořák Prague Festival, the orchestra will be taking part in the debut appearance of pianist Kit Armstrong, who introduces himself to the festival as the soloist in the Piano Concerto No. 5, by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The American pianist Kit Armstrong is an extraordinary figure on today’s music scene. He settled on a musical career despite also having broad interests in science, languages, and mathematics. In addition to playing piano, he also composes. With his appearance with the Prague Symphony Orchestra, Armstrong is finally realising his postponed debut as part of the series titled, For the Future. His performance could not take place last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In its programme, the orchestra figuratively departs from its homeland on a long journey. Representing the homeland is the symphonic poem Praga by Josef Suk, who employed his lyrical and dramatic talents to celebrate Bohemia’s capital city. Saint-Saëns’s Fifth Piano Concerto is sometimes called the “Egyptian Concerto”, both because the composer wrote it in Luxor and because, in this work more than any other, he allows his love for musical exoticism to come to the fore. At the concert’s conclusion, the music of Igor Stravinsky’s ballet, The Rite of Spring, will take us to rural Russia to witness the rituals of prehistoric pagans.
Founded in 1934, the Prague Symphony Orchestra (FOK) is a leading Czech ensemble with an impressive tradition and international reputation, which enriches the concert life of the Czech metropolis and represents Prague and Czech culture abroad at the highest level. As the official orchestra of the City of Prague, it is based and performs in the attractive space of Smetana Hall of the Municipal House. The abbreviation FOK stands for Film - Opera – Koncert, which was the orchestra’s original focus.
Tomáš Brauner has been Chief Conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra since the 2020/2021 season. Prior to him, Rudolf Pekárek, Václav Smetáček, Jiří Bělohlávek, Petr Altrichter, Gaetano Delogu, Serge Baudo, Jiří Kout, and Pietari Inkinen held this post. Tomáš Netopil has been designated Chief Conductor from the 2025/2026 season. Rita Chepurchenko and Roman Patočka are the orchestra’s first violinists.
The orchestra has maintained its artistic reputation and respect throughout its existence by working with internationally renowned conductors (Václav Talich, Rafael Kubelík, Karel Ančerl, Sir Georg Solti, Seiji Ozawa, Walter Süsskind, Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur, Carlos Kleiber, Sir Charles Mackerras, Charles Dutoit, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Leonard Slatkin, Michel Plasson, Neeme Järvi, Krzysztof Penderecki, Christoph Eschenbach, Eliahu Inbal, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Paavo Järvi, Richard Hickox, Andrey Boreyko, Helmuth Rilling, Jac van Steen, and others); instrumental soloists (David Oistrach, Isaac Stern, Josef Suk, Rudolf Firkušný, Sviatoslav Richter, Claudio Arrau, Ivan Moravec, Garrick Ohlsson, Maurice André, Mstislav Rostropovich, Mischa Maisky, Martha Argerich, Heinrich Schiff, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Sergei Nakariakov, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Vadim Repin, Pinchas Zukerman, Felix Klieser, Lukáš Vondráček, Maxim Vengerov, and others) and vocalists (Kim Borg, Katia Ricciarelli, Gabriela Beňačková, José Cura, Anne Sofie von Otter, Peter Dvorský, Edita Gruberová, Thomas Hampson, Ruggero Raimondi, Philip Langridge, Renée Fleming, Bernarda Fink, Linda Watson, Eva Urbanová, Simon O'Neill, and others).
Each season, the Prague Symphony Orchestra plays over fifty orchestral concerts in Prague. Before the season opens, the orchestra meets its audience at a traditional free open-air concert in the Wallenstein Garden.
The Prague Symphony Orchestra has performed in most European countries, as well as repeatedly in the United States, and has also visited South America, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, Turkey, Israel, Oman, China, and other countries. In August 2022, it made its debut at the Elbe Philharmonic in Hamburg. In 2023, the orchestra performed in Austria, Germany, and Hungary. Traditional tour destinations include Japan and South Korea, which the orchestra visited in January 2024.
The orchestra's long tradition is documented by its extensive catalogue of gramophone, radio and television recordings, and the most interesting archival recordings have been made available online. The orchestra recorded the music for most Czech films in the 1930s. Under the baton of its chief conductor, Tomáš Brauner, the Prague Symphony Orchestra has recently recorded Dvořák's Slavonic Dances, works by Karel Husa, including the legendary Music for Prague 1968, and piano concertos by Sergei Rachmaninov with Lukáš Vondráček.
The FOK brand is also associated with the organisation of chamber concerts. Prague audiences have become very fond of the Chamber Music and Early Music series at the Church of St. Simon and St. Jude. The FOK also traditionally organises a series of piano recitals in Dvořák Hall at the Rudolfinum, the chamber concert series Pictures and Music at Agnes Monastery, and music and literary programmes in the Word and Music series at the Viola Theatre.
source: FOK
In 2020, Tomáš Brauner became Chief Conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra. From 2013–2018, he was Chief Conductor of the Plzeň Philharmonic, from 2014–2018 he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra in Prague, and from 2018–2021 he was Chief Conductor of the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic.
In 2018, Tomáš Brauner toured with the Prague Symphony Orchestra in Munich (Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3) and in Poznań (Smetana: My Country). In 2022, he performed with the Prague Symphony Orchestra in Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and in 2023 in Wiesbaden and Dresden. In the 2023/2024 season, he and FOK will tour to Austria, Germany, Japan, and South Korea.
Tomáš Brauner regularly works with leading symphony orchestras and opera houses, including the Czech Philharmonic, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Münchner Symphoniker, Nürnberger Symphoniker, Slovak Philharmonic, Philharmonie Sudwestfalen, National Radio Orchestra Romania, Moscow Radio State Orchestra, Athens Orchestra of Colours, PKF – Prague Philharmonia, and many more.
Tomáš Brauner began his opera conducting career at the J.K. Tyl Theatre in Plzeň. He made his debut at the Prague State Opera in 2008 with a performance of Verdi’s Othello. In the National Theatre in Prague, he conducts Verdi’s La Traviata. He conducted Janáček’s Jenůfa at the prestigious Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. In 2019, he premiered new productions at the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava with Hoffman’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann.
Tomáš Brauner also receives regular invitations to perform at major international festivals such as Prague Spring, Bad Kissingen, and the Richard Strauss Festival in Garmisch Partenkirchen. His recording of the complete cello works by Bohuslav Martinů for the Dabringhaus und Grimm label won Classic Prague Awards 2017. He has recorded Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances with the Prague Symphony Orchestra and Rachmaninoff’s complete piano concertos with Lukáš Vondráček. Tomáš Brauner was born in Prague in 1978. After graduating in conducting from the Prague Academy of Performing Arts in 2005, he undertook a study attachment at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna. Five years later, he was a prize winner at the Dimitris Mitropoulos International Conducting Competition in Athens.
source: FOK
In spite of his youth, the 28-year-old American pianist Kit Armstrong is a remarkably mature Renaissance man. His diverse talent was already apparent as a child; he began to play piano at age five. At nine, he could speak four languages fluently, and at ten he had already composed several musical works of his own, including a symphony. At the same time, he was studying mathematics, physics, and biology at several American universities, and in 2012 he earned a master’s degree in pure mathematics at the University of Paris VI. Armstrong launched his stellar career as a pianist at eight years of age, and since then he has appeared with several of the world’s important orchestras including Leipzig’s Gewandhausorchester and the London Philharmonia Orchestra, and with such conductors as Riccardo Chailly, Christoph von Dohnányi, Manfred Honeck, Charles Mackerras, and Kent Nagano. Since 2005, legendary pianist Alfred Brendel has served as his mentor. He has already given solo recitals in most of Europe’s great cities.
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.
