Inauguration Concert of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union
CZK 1 300 | 900 | 700 | 500 (SL/E*) | CZK 200 (ST*)
Donor’s ticket CZK 3 000
*SL/E partial view and organ gallery above the stage
*ST standing
Michel Dalberto — piano (Ravel)
Stanislav Gallin — piano (Martinů)
Emmanuel Villaume — conductor
IN COOPERATION WITH THE EMBASSY OF FRANCE
AND THE FRENCH INSTITUTE IN PRAGUE
Reminder of a rare visit
The fifth concert of the season will be truly French, and this time not only in terms of music. In collaboration with the Embassy of France to the Czech Republic and the French Institute in Prague,
this program is conceived as an inauguration concert on the occasion of the French presidency of the Council of the European Union.
At the same time, this gala evening is a reminder of Maurice Ravel’s concert in Prague. Ravel appeared in Prague only once as a conductor — exactly 90 years ago. In February 1932, at the New German Theater (today’s State Opera), he conducted his Piano Concerto in G major a mere month after its creation. This entertaining work, in which the composer puts emphasis on the virtuosity of the performer, will be heard tonight in the interpretation of the French pianist Michel Dalberto.
We will also reminisce about Ravel by listening to the ecstatic Bolero, one of the most popular compositions of classical music in general, and also to Ravel’s orchestration of Debussy’s poetic Sarabande, originally written for piano.
In addition to Ravel, we have included another famous Frenchman, George Bizet. We will hear his Petite Suite for Orchestra, which consists of a set of his piano miniatures Jeux d’enfants [Children’s Games], a kind of French counterpart of Robert Schumann’s Kinderszenen [Scenes from Childhood].
The relationship between the Czech Republic and France is perfectly exemplified by Bohuslav Martinů. His Toccata e due canzoni seems to have been created just for the PKF — Prague Philharmonia.
Michel Dalberto
Michel Dalberto — piano
Born in 1955, Michel Dalberto started playing on a small toy at the age of 3 ½, made his first public appearance at 5 ½ and entered the class of Vlado Perlemuter at the Paris Conservatoire at 13. Today he is regarded as the heir of the great French Piano School of Alfred Cortot. He won in 1975 the most coveted Clara Haskil Prize and 1st Prize at the 1978 Leeds International Piano Competition.
Conductors such as Wolfgang Sawallish, Sir Colin Davis, Erich Leinsdorf, Yuri Temirkanov, Kurt Masur, Daniele Gatti or Sir John Elliot Gardiner have invited him and he also appeared at the Lucerne, Florence, Aix-en-Provence, La Roque d’Anthéron, Vienna, Edinburgh, and Schleswig-Holstein festivals, among others. From the beginning, his repertoire was mostly focused on the Austrian-German music of the 18th, 19th and 20th century, particularly Schubert and Mozart. He is the only living pianist who has recorded the complete piano music by Franz Schubert. He has also conducted from the keyboard all Mozart Concertos.
More recently he started playing the French composers of the second half of the 21th and beginning of the 20th century, releasing for the label Aparté four recordings devoted to Debussy, Franck, Fauré and Ravel. He played the ten Beethoven Sonatas with the late Henryk Szeryng and has been since regarded as an outstanding chamber music partner sharing the stage with musicians such as Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Boris Belkin, Vadim Repin, Renaud Capuçon, Yuri Bashmet, Truls Mork, Lynn Harrell as well as, in the vocal department, Barbara Hendricks, Jessye Norman, Nathalie Stutzman or Stephan Genz.
Stanislav Gallin — piano
Stanislav Gallin attended a secondary music school in St. Petersburg. In 2001 he enrolled in Prof. Peter Toperczer’s class at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, graduating in April 2007 with Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto at the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum. In 2004 he studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Prof. Peter Lang. In 2012 he completed his doctorate at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava under the guidance of Prof. Elena Händler.
Stanislav Gallin is the founding member of the Orbis Trio, which during 2009 became one of the most successful chamber ensembles of its generation in Europe by winning four international competitions, including one of the most prestigious: the International Chamber Music Competition Hamburg. He took part in several masterclass courses, for example with Lazar Berman, Eugen Idjic, Avo Kouyoumjian and Pierre Jasmin. As a soloist, he has performed with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, PKF - Prague Philharmonia, Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc, Bruno Walter Symphony Orchestra, Pilsen Philharmonic and others.
Among the conductors he has collaborated with are: Alexej Anikhanov, Tomáš Brauner, Jack Martin Händler, Jakub Hrůša, Vahan Mardirossian, Ondřej Vrabec and Peter Vrábel. Stanislav is a sought-after chamber and studio player and has performed in concerts not only in the Czech Republic and in Russia, but also in other European countries, USA, Asia and Africa. Since 2009 he has been a Fellow at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, in the Collaborative Piano Department.
Emmanuel Villaume — conductor
French-born conductor Emmanuel Villaume has led captivating performances with the most prominent opera companies and symphony orchestras around the world. Since the 2015–2016 season he has been Chief Conductor of the PKF – Prague Philharmonia.
He also regularly collaborates with opera houses in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Montreal, Royal Opera Covent Garden in London, Washington National Opera, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan and Opéra Bastille in Paris. Emmanuel Villaume has also conducted at the Bavarian State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro La Fenice, Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro Real in Madrid and Opéra de Monte-Carlo, among others.
Among the orchestras he has conducted so far are: Los Angeles Philharmonic; Chicago, Montreal, San Francisco, Houston and Boston Symphony Orchestras; Royal Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France and NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. In 2008 the China National Opera House Orchestra played under Villaume’s baton during the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.
