The Brno Philharmonic Orchestra kicked off its musical season in Salzburg yesterday. The orchestra will play twice more on this prestigious stage

29 September 2022, 15:00
The Brno Philharmonic Orchestra kicked off its musical season in Salzburg yesterday. The orchestra will play twice more on this prestigious stage

The Brno Philharmonic has been on an extraordinary guest tour since yesterday. For three consecutive nights it will appear on one of Europe’s most prestigious stages, playing in Salzburg, at the Great Festival House.

“It is a great honor for us. We have been wanting to come to the Großes Festspielhaus for a long time. We are incredibly pleased to be opening the Salzburg music season here with three concerts,” said Marie Kučerová, director of the Brno Philharmonic.

On Wednesday evening, the orchestra aptly repeated the program with which it opened the concert season in Brno two weeks ago, combining Martinů’s Lidice Memorial with Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony. “Hearing it relatively shortly after each other in two different halls and being able to compare the two performances was in a way very painful. And that was because of the acoustics. In Salzburg, even the most delicate pianissimos stood out, all the differences in dynamics, gradation... This is simply not possible in the Janáček Theater. It was a completely different experience,” said Kučerová. Not only the audience was enthusiastic, who gave a long standing ovation, but the orchestra as well. “They told me that they played very well, they felt much freer than in Brno, thanks to the fact that they could hear each other perfectly,” said chief conductor Dennis Russell Davies, who is leading the orchestra on the guest appearance as he did during the opening concert in Brno.

Today, the second night, the Philharmonic will repeat the program. Friday’s closing concert will feature Dvořák, Vaughan Williams, Janáček, and Korngold’s Violin Concerto, performed by Milan Paľa.

Photo from the rehearsal/ FB archive

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