PRSO to perform at Music Forum Hradec Králové on 7 November
Music Forum Hradec Králové, a festival focused on contemporary classical orchestral music, has been taking place in the town since 2005. This year the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, with cellist Jiří Bárta and conductor Andreas Sebastian Weiser, will appear at its closing concert. It takes place at 20:00 on 7 November at the hall of the Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra and – as the works of Pēteris Vasks are to be performed – will offer an opportunity to become acquainted with a musical culture of which we have scant awareness.
The Latvian composer (b. 1946) comes from the family of a Baptist clergyman. He studied double bass and performed for eleven years with a number of Latvian symphony and chamber orchestras. Only after completing his military service was he allowed (as the persecuted son of a pastor) to attend composition classes at the Latvian Academy of Music.
He has a kinship with such composers as Witold Lutosławsky, Krzystof Penderecki and Henryk Górecki. He combines contemporary compositional techniques with elements of Latvian folklore, while his work also emphasises a love of nature and efforts to protect it. Pēteris Vasks composes for some of the world’s most renowned musicians, including the Kronos Quartet, Gidon Kremer and the Hilliard Ensemble. He has promised to attend the Music Forum Hradec Králové in person.
Programme:
Pēteris Vasks
Canto di forza for 12 cellos (2005)
Cello concerto (1994)
Symphony no.2 (1999)
Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra
Soloist: Jiří Bárta, cello
Conductor: Andreas Sebastian Weiser
