31st Season - Contemporary Music Series

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About the series

The Contemporary Music Series of the Prague Philharmonia orchestra will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its activities in the 2024/2025 season, and we will celebrate in grand style! Our ambition is to move this series closer to a wider spectrum of today's cultural scene. That's why we've chosen an unusual "music talk show" format for these concerts. In six episodes, we will welcome prominent figures from the Czech and Slovak music scene. We will cover various genres, from contemporary classical music to jazz and electronic. We will intersect the world of music with the worlds of visual art, literature, and film.

The invitees include composers Miloš Štědroň, Vladimír Franz, Petr Kotík (in a musical duel with Philip Glass), Marián Lejava, Kateřina Horká, laureates of the 2023 Konvergencie international composition competition, electronic music composer and sound designer Karel Havlíček, and composer and writer Vadim Petrov.

The concerts will feature works in Czech and, above all, world premieres, for which I am very grateful to their authors!

We have designated two of the concerts as "extraordinary", as they are exceptional in character and will be held in the large hall of the Švanda Theater in collaboration with that venue. It is the concert (S3) Petr Kotík and Philip Glass: 50 Years in New York and the celebratory concert (S4) Vladimír Franz 65. The final concert of the cycle is a "special" one, to be held at the S1 Studio of Czech Radio, and will include a light visualization of the music.

A crucial component of the concerts is the live discussion with the invited guests. The musical performers will be members of the Prague Philharmonia orchestra and their special musical guests - violinist and singer Gabriela Vermelho, pianist Miroslav Beinhauer, and clarinetist Anna Paulová. The "music talk show", or the concerts of the Contemporary Music Series of the Prague Philharmonia, are for those of you who want to be transported far beyond the horizons of ordinary experiences through sublime music and spoken word.

Hana Dohnálková, moderator and dramaturg of the Contemporary Music Series

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Libor and Veronika Winkler
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