PRSO conquers Tokyo’s Suntory Hall and sacred Mount Fuji
On 4 July, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra (PRSO), led by principal conductor Ondrej Lenárd, enchanted the audience at Tokyo’s sold-out Suntory Hall. The ensemble played Smetana’s Vltava and Dvořák’s New World Symphony, while Russian pianist Stanislav Bunin, a favourite with Japanese music lovers, performed the solo in a rendition of Schumann’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in A minor.
The audience’s reaction to Dvořák’s New World Symphony was unusually ecstatic and spontaneous, leading the PRSO to perform two encores from the same composer’s Slavonic Dances.
The orchestra also notched up a “non-musical” success on its tour when, on a day off on 3 July, its “top team” of Milan Muzikář (first bassoon) and Jaroslav Bohdal (first violin), with the strong support of colleagues Petr Fríd (trombone) and Aleš Fiala (first violin), conquered the peak of Mount Fuji (3,776 m above sea level) in highly unfavourable weather conditions, in fog, gales and heavy rain.
The PRSO’s concert tour of Japan reaches a climax with three concerts: in Nagoya on 5 July; in Fukuoka the following day; and in Oita on 7 July. On Monday 8 July, the orchestra returns to the Czech Republic.
