Webern. Shostakovich. Beethoven

The 2024/2025 season traditionally concludes with Music Director and Chief Conductor Emmanuel Villaume. The evening's honored solo position will be taken by outstanding violinist Romana Špačková, Prague Philharmonia's long-standing concertmaster.

The evening opens with Anton Webern's Passacaglia, an early work combining strong Romantic influences with experimental tendencies. The epic arch of this Baroque-inspired variation form sets the stage for the dramatic atmosphere of the early 20th century, which we'll fully explore in Dmitri Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor. The post-war period during which the concerto was written marked another turbulent phase in the composer's life, as he faced intense criticism of his work and political persecution.

The violin concerto thus didn't receive its premiere until 1959, when the situation eased due to Shostakovich's forced promotion of the USSR on the international stage.

The evening culminates in one of Ludwig van Beethoven's most fundamental compositions – Symphony No. 7. This work, which the composer sketched during his spa stay in Teplice, is sometimes called the "apotheosis of dance" and ranks among his most performed works alongside the "Eroica" and the "Fifth (The Fate Symphony)."

Like the "Eroica," the Seventh Symphony has been part of Prague Philharmonia's DNA from the beginning. The orchestra's perfect knowledge of and strong connection to this score allows the players to consistently offer audiences fresh interpretive approaches.