Mozart. Saint-Saëns. Haydn. Schubert

The opening of the season is not only a musical event, but also a social event, and those closest to you must not miss it. Naturally, we will open the season with our Chief Conductor Emmanuel Villaume. Under his direction, the Prague Philharmonia will play works by composers who are close to the heart of the members of the orchestra.

Mozart’s elegance, for example, has long been uniquely understood by our string section. Their brilliant way of playing and compact sound are also perfectly suited to the rather lucid, albeit quite complex overture to The Magic Flute. With Mozart we will listen to the music of Viennese Classicism – after all, this style has long been the focal point of our ensemble.

We will also return to the late 18th century in another overture – Joseph Haydn’s oratorio The Creation, which is perhaps his most famous church composition. Schubert’s Symphony No. 4 “Tragic” came into being less than two decades later. The character of the symphony, as its epithet suggests, is established by Schubert’s choice of the dark and sorrowful C minor key. Its slow introduction opens with the basic theme, emphasizing the gloomy mood of this symphony.

The soloist of the evening, Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski already well-known to our listeners, will perform in a much more optimistic vein. He will play Camille Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No. 5. This last piano concerto by Saint-Saëns, which he successfully premiered himself as soloist, reflects his passion for traveling. He incorporated rhythms and melodies inspired by distant lands – especially Egypt – into the structure of the concerto.