Prague Spring International Music Festival

Coordinates: 50°05′24″N 14°24′58″E / 50.090°N 14.416°E / 50.090; 14.416
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Municipal Hall (Smetana Hall) in Prague, Czech Republic, serves as one of the main venues in the annual Prague Spring Festival.

The Prague Spring International Music Festival (Czech: Mezinárodní hudební festival Pražské jaro, commonly Czech: Pražské jaro, Prague Spring) is a classical music festival held every year in Prague, Czech Republic, with symphony orchestras and chamber music ensembles from around the world.

The first festival was held in 1946 under the patronage of Czechoslovak president

Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi and Jan Panenka have appeared at the festival. Since 1952, the festival has opened on 12 May, the anniversary of the death of Bedřich Smetana, with his cycle of symphonic poems Má vlast (My Country), and it used to close (until 2003) with Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.[1]

The festival commemorates important musical anniversaries by including works by the composers concerned on its programmes, and presents Czech as well as world premieres of compositions by contemporary authors. Artists and orchestras who performed at the festival include

Paul Klecki, Gustav Leonhardt, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Giovanni Bellucci,[2][3] Alfred Brendel, Heinrich Schiff, Leopold Stokowski, Arthur Honegger, Arthur Rubinstein and Gennady Rozhdestvensky
.

Prague Spring's traditional venue is the Rudolfinum concert hall, a neo-renaissance building situated on the bank of the Vltava River. It is complemented by Prague's ornate Municipal House (Obecní dům), which has a larger seating capacity.[4]

The Prague Spring has a particular focus on supporting younger performers. The Prague Spring International Music Competition was established just one year after the festival itself and is held each year in various instrumental sections. The list of past winners of competition includes Mstislav Rostropovich, Saša Večtomov, Natalia Gutman, James Galway and Maurice Bourgue.

Competitions disciplines and Laureates

The age limit for candidates is 30 years.

See also

References

  1. ^ Inta West, Prague Spring & the Man Who Makes It Sing (Bridge Magazine, 2006)
  2. ^ "News — Klavírní festival Rudolfa Firkušného".
  3. ^ gottschalk09 (14 February 2009). "Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto no.1 - Giovanni Bellucci, piano (3/3)" – via YouTube.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Czech Republic official website Archived 2007-07-03 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "Klavírní festival Rudolfa Firkušného - Rudolf Firkušný". Archived from the original on 2016-06-09. Retrieved 2016-05-11.

Bibliography

  • Antonín Matzner a kol.: Šedesát pražských jar. Togga: Praha, 2006.

External links

50°05′24″N 14°24′58″E / 50.090°N 14.416°E / 50.090; 14.416

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