Applause for Mahan Esfahani and Jiří Rožeň
Rudolfinum, 12 February 2018 at 7:30 p.m. Public dress rehearsal at 9:30 a.m.
Igor Stravinsky: Symphonies of Wind Instruments
Viktor Kalabis: Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings, Op. 42
Leoš Janáček: Glagolitic Mass
Jiří Rožeň – Conductor
Mahan Esfahani – Harpsichord
Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno
Markéta Cukrová – Alto
Richard Samek – Tenor
Jozef Benci – Bass
Pavel Svoboda – Pipe organ
Jiří Rožeň, one of the most talented young Czech conductors, who debuted at Prague Spring and has conducted the Czech Philharmonic and a host of other excellent orchestras across Europe, is currently the assistant to Danish conductor Thomas Dausgaard at the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Glasgow.
Fun fact:
“Neither old, nor devout, young man,” was 73-year-old Leoš Janáček’s alleged response to Ludvík Kundera, author of the critique of the premiere of the Glagolitic Mass, who called him a “devout old man”.
The programme, comprising music from the 20th century, will open with Stravinsky’s masterly Symphonies of Wind Instruments, written in memory of Claude Debussy. The first half of the concert will also include the Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings, which Viktor Kalabis wrote for his wife, Zuzana Růžičková, one of the most important harpsichord players of the 20th century.
The solo part will be performed by Mahan Esfahani, Růžičková’s Iranian-American student based in Prague. He is one of the most important harpsichord players in the world today, recording for major labels such as Hyperion and Deutsche Gramophon. He performs regularly in the best concert halls of the world, including London’s Wigmore Hall.
The entire orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno, a quartet of excellent singers and organist Pavel Svoboda will team up in the second half of the concert to perform the Glagolitic Mass by Leoš Janáček, who in August 2018 will have died ninety years ago.
Ticket prices: 440 / 390 / 350 / 310 / 180 / 100 CZK
