Bamberger Symphoniker

ABOUT THE CONCERT

The Bamberg Symphony Orchestra has always taken pride in its Czech origins and sound. With its present chief conductor Jakub Hrůša, it is as if the orchestra were increasingly on a return journey to Prague, the city from which its founding members had to depart after the Second World War. As the principal guest conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, Hrůša is an embodiment of the historical ties between the Czech and German peoples and their musical life. This connection, including the orchestra’s significant orientation of repertoire towards Czech music, led naturally to the idea of a joint orchestral residency of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra with the Czech Philharmonic at the 2021 festival. The violinist Jan Mráček, concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic, will be the evening’s soloist.  

The concert programme also emphasises the cosmopolitan aspect in a Czech environment. The overture Lady Godiva by Vítězslav Novák takes its dramatic inspiration from the medieval legend of a woman who rode naked through the streets of Coventry so her husband would lower the taxes on the local population. The composer of the Violin Concerto in D Major, the Brno native Erich Wolfgang Korngold, became famous for his film music, and he shaped the musical style of old Hollywood. Antonín Dvořák’s second set of Slavonic Dances is an increasingly popular item in the worldwide repertoire, and its pensive character seems to speak to the public more than the immediacy of the first set.  

Dress code: dark suit 

PROGRAM

Vítězslav Novák                                                                                                                                               
Lady Godiva, Op. 41 

Erich Wolfgang Korngold                                                                                                                                     
Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35

Antonín Dvořák                                                                                                                                         
Slavonic Dances, Series II, Op. 72, B. 147

BAMBERGER SYMPHONIKER                                                                                                
JAKUB HRŮŠA conductor 
JAN MRÁČEK violin