Clarinet and Music of the World
Bethlehem Chapel, Thursday 28 January 2027 at 7.30 p.m.
Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra
Chuhei Iwasaki – conductor
Aleš Tvrdík, Libor Suchý – clarinets
Arthur Duff: The Irish Suite (10′)
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: Konzertstück No. 2, Op. 114 (12′)
Edvard Grieg: From Holberg’s Time, Op. 40 – suite (21′)
Darja Kukal Moiseeva: world premiere of a work commissioned by the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra for two clarinets and orchestra (approx. 15′)
Music is a language that connects continents.
Arthur Duff
This evening devoted to the clarinet presents a varied panorama of European music from Romanticism to the present day.
The programme opens with Arthur Duff’s Irish Suite, inspired by Irish folklore and the rhythms of traditional dances. It is followed by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s virtuosic Konzertstück No. 2 for two clarinets and orchestra – a sparkling concert piece full of lyrical and brilliant passages.
Grieg’s suite From Holberg’s Time offers a stylised return to Baroque dance forms in richly coloured Romantic orchestration. The highlight of the evening will be the world premiere of a new work by Darja Kukal Moiseeva, written on commission for the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Chuhei Iwasaki
is one of the notable conductors of the younger generation. He studied conducting at the Tokyo College of Music and later at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna. He has worked as an assistant conductor with a number of European orchestras and collaborates with leading symphonic ensembles in Europe and Asia. His conducting combines energy with a keen sense of detail and a sensitive approach to orchestral colour; his repertoire ranges from the classical symphonic tradition to contemporary music.
Clarinetists Aleš Tvrdík and Libor Suchý are members of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Aleš Tvrdík
studied at the Prague Conservatory with Milan Polák and Ludmila Peterková and later at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno. He served as principal clarinet of the opera orchestra of the F. X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec and today leads the clarinet section of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. A laureate of international competitions, he was awarded third prize at the Leoš Janáček International Competition in Brno (2024). Alongside his concert activity, he also teaches at the music school in Jablonec nad Nisou.
Libor Suchý
studied at the Prague Conservatory and subsequently at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He is deputy principal of the clarinet section of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, with which he takes part in numerous concert and recording projects in the Czech Republic and abroad. Alongside his orchestral work, he is active in chamber music and appears as a soloist in the orchestra’s concert and broadcast projects.
The evening offers a meeting of musical worlds – from Irish dance rhythms and echoes of folk music through Romantic virtuosity to a contemporary premiere. The dialogue of two clarinets with the orchestra opens a rich palette of colours, moods and musical stories. In this way, the programme connects musical traditions inspired by folklore with new sonic horizons in contemporary composition.
Ticket prices range from 400 to 600 CZK
