Vince Mendoza Grammy Night

ABOUT THE CONCERT

The Czech National Symphony Orchestra’s recording of the album Freedom over Everything with the acclaimed arranger, composer, conductor, and multi GRAMMY® winner Vince Mendoza was always going to be a big deal in the Czech music world. However when the album was nominated for a GRAMMY® Award and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences subsequently presented Vince Mendoza with the award, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra was humbled as well as overjoyed to take the limelight. This was not least due to the project initiator and producer being none other than CNSO director Jan Hasenöhrl, but also given the extraordinary collaboration and international scale of its success. The award was given for the track To The Edge of Longing in the category of best arrangement, instruments and vocals. 

For this reason we have put together a special Vince Mendoza Grammy Night concert at the Smetana Hall of the Municipal House, with the celebrated Vince Mendoza leading the Czech National Symphony Orchestra perform a selection of compositions from his award-winning album released by BMG Modern Recordings.

The outstanding Mexican jazz drummer Antonio Sánchez will also make a guest appearance. 

PROGRAME

Selection from Vince Mendoza's Grammy Award-winning album "Freedom Over Everything"

Performers

Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Vince Mendoza, conductor
Antonio Sánchez, drums

CNSO - Czech National Symphony Orchestra

Performing and continuously growing for 26 years, the CNSO has earned an enviable reputation among both Czech and Europe’s top symphonic ensembles. Renowned for its versatility, the orchestra annually presents a broad programme ranging from classical music concerts to contemporary genres, film scores, jazz and musicals.

Composers, conductors, and performers such as Ennio Morricone, Lalo Schifrin, James Morrison, Branford & Wynton Marsalis, Pino Donnagio, Giuliano Taviani, José Carreras, Danny Elfman, Vince Mendoza, Giuseppe Tornatore, Carl Davis, Steven Mercurio, Marcello Rota, Christian Lindberg, Chick Corea, Vladimir Cosma repeatedly come back to Prague to either record with the orchestra or perform in the beautiful Smetana Hall at Prague’s Municipal House, the home concert stage of the orchestra. Highlights from recent concert seasons include a European tour with the legendary Ennio Morricone, and a Prague concert with Anna Netrebko.

Successful tours have taken place over the British Isles, USA, Canada, France, Spain, Dubai, Japan, Mexico, China, Korea, Oman, Australia and New Zealand.

Antonio Sanchez

Born in Mexico City, 4 time Grammy Award winner Antonio Sanchez began playing the drums at age five and performed professionally in his early teens in Mexico’s rock, jazz and latin scenes. He pursued a degree in classical piano at the National Conservatory in Mexico and in 1993 enrolled in Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude in Jazz Studies. Since moving to New York City in 1999, Antonio has become one of the most sought-after drummers on the international jazz scene. Following 18 years and 9 albums as one of the most revered collaborators with guitarist/composer Pat Metheny, he also has recorded and performed with many other most prominent artists like Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Michael Brecker, Charlie Haden and Toots Thielmans.

In 2014 Sanchez’s popularity soared when he scored Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) which ended up fetching 4 Academy awards (including best picture) and for which Antonio won a Grammy award. Additional film/tv projects include EPIX network's Get Shorty and Hippopotamus among others.

Sanchez currently has close to a dozen recordings as a leader and solo artist. His recent projects to date include the critically acclaimed, through-composed epic The Meridian Suite, the star studded album Three Times Three, Grammy nominated Bad Hombre—a sociopolitical electronica & drums exploration, Channels of Energy, an ambitious project with the WDR Big Band with arrangements of his works by Vince Mendoza and the most recent 2019 release, Lines in the Sand with his band Migration.