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Sunday, September 8, 8.00 pm
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Pavel Haas Quartet
- Karel Dohnal clarinet
- Tomáš Františ bassoon
- Přemysl Vojta French horn
- Petr Ries double bass
Ticket prices
790 – 290 Kč
Programme
Antonín Dvořák: Cypresses, B. 152Franz Schubert: Octet in F Major, D. 803Opening this year’s Chamber Series will be its curators, the world-renowned Pavel Haas Quartet. Celebrating the completion of our three-year partnership, the quartet has invited preeminent colleagues to collaborate and share the stage. The programme features Dvořák's Cypresses for string quartet as well as Schubert's impressive six-movement Octet in F Major.
Songs about fiery love and great wanderings need no further words. The young Antonín Dvořák had fallen in love with actress Josefina Čermáková, and he encoded his feelings for all time in the song cycle Cypresses, a work to which he would later return several times. The composer’s arrangement for string quartet retains all of the urgency, persuasiveness, and changes of mood that the composer had poured into the original songs. Songs accompanied Franz Schubert throughout his career. From his song Der Wanderer, Schubert derived the first movement of the beautiful Octet, which is one of his greatest works of chamber music. Dvořák and Schubert share a respect for classical order combined with amazing inventiveness and emotional outbursts, and their works have not lost their power over the centuries.
 | Dvořák’s Cypresses performed by Emerson Quartet | Play |
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- Dress code: dark suit
- Doors close: 7.55 pm
- End of concert: 10.10 pm
Artists
Pavel Haas Quartet
The Pavel Haas Quartet is firmly established as one of the world’s foremost chamber ensembles. The Quartet is revered across the globe for its richness of timbre, infectious passion, and intuitive rapport. They perform in the world’s most prestigious concert halls and have won five Gramophone Awards and numerous others awards for their recordings. In 2022, the prestigious BBC Music Magazine ranked them among the 10 greatest string quartet ensembles of all time.
The Quartet regularly appears at major venues including Wigmore Hall, London; Philharmonie and Konzerthaus, Berlin; Musikverein, Vienna; Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam; Tonhalle, Zürich; Théâtre de la Ville, Paris; Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome; BOZAR, Brussels; NCPA, Beijing; LG Arts Centre, Seoul and Carnegie Hall, New York.
In the 2023/2024 season, the Quartet will return to the Wigmore Hall for four concerts and will also appear at Rudolfinum Prague; Reduta Bratislava; Teatro La Fenice; Liverpool Philharmonic Hall; Göteborgs Konserthus; National Concert Hall, Dublin; Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam; and Philharmonie Luxembourg. Further afield, the Quartet is touring the United States in March 2024 and Asia in May 2024. The ensemble will also perform at leading Czech festivals, including Dvořák's Prague and Prague Spring. Since September 2022, the Pavel Haas Quartet has been Artist-in-Residence at the Dvořák Prague Festival and has curated several chamber music concerts, including programming all the Dvořák String Quartets and chamber music works over these three seasons.
The Pavel Haas Quartet records exclusively under the Supraphon label. Their most recent recording of the Brahms Viola and Piano Quintets with Boris Giltburg and their former member, Pavel Nikl, was released to critical acclaim in May 2022. The recording was described as “radiant and vivacious” by The Strad and was Presto Classical’s Recording of the Week. For their previous album showcasing Shostakovich String Quartets (2019), they received the Recording of the Year by Classic Prague Awards and it was named one of the 100 best records of the year by The Times.
The Quartet has received five Gramophone Awards for their recordings of Dvořák, Smetana, Schubert, Janáček and Haas, as well as Dvořák’s String Quartets No.12 ‘American’ and No.13, for which they were awarded the most coveted prize, Gramophone Recording of the Year in 2011. The Sunday Times commented, “…their account of the ‘American’ Quartet belongs alongside the greatest performances on disc.” Further accolades include BBC Music Magazine Awards and the Diapason d’Or de l’Année in 2010 for their recording of Prokofiev String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2.
Since winning the Paolo Borciani competition in Italy in 2005, further highlights early on in their career included a nomination as ECHO Rising Stars in 2007, participation in the BBC New Generation Artists scheme between 2007-2009, and the Special Ensemble Scholarship the Borletti-Buitoni Trust awarded them in 2010.
The Pavel Haas Quartet was founded in 2002 by violinist Veronika Jarůšková and violist Pavel Nikl, who was a member of the ensemble until 2016, when he left due to family reasons. Yet their collaboration has continued – Pavel Nikl has been a permanent guest of the ensemble for string quintet performances. The members of the quartet studied with the late Milan Skampa, legendary violist of the Smetana Quartet. The ensemble takes their name from the Czech-Jewish composer Pavel Haas (1899-1944), who was imprisoned at Theresienstadt in 1941 and tragically died at Auschwitz three years later. His legacy includes three wonderful string quartets.
source: artevisio
Karel Dohnal
He has won awards at many prestigious international competitions (Prague Spring, Rome, Bayreuth, Ostend, Seville, and London). Karel is a member of PhilHarmonia Octet, Arundo Quartet, and the Prague State Opera Orchestra. His CD “Czech Music for Clarinet” earned him a nomination for the Anděl 2021 Award.
Active in education, he conducts courses both nationally and internationally, and he holds a teaching position at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ostrava. His outstanding performances, which showcase his comedy, acting, and movement talents, receive great acclaim – whether he is portraying Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Harlequin or interpreting Peacock Tales in Anders Hillborg’s Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra.
Karel Dohnal’s notable performances include concerts with the Bamber Symphony and Jakub Hrůša (Copland), the Essen Philharmonic and Tomáš Netopil (Copland, Mozart), the Györ Philharmonic Orchestra (Kubín), the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra (Kabeláč, Štochl, Debussy), the Band of the Castle Guards and the Police of the Czech Republic (Nelhýbel), the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava (Hillborg), the Gera Philharmonic Orchestra (Kaprálová) and the USC Symphony Orchestra (Françaix). He is an official player of the French clarinet manufacturer Selmer and the US firm D'Addario Woodwinds.
Tomáš Františ
Tomáš Františ graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under the guidance of Prof. Jiří Seidl and Prof. František Herman. Since 1993, he has held the position of solo bassoonist with the Brno Philharmonic. In 1994, he obtained the same position within the newly formed Prague Chamber Philharmonic. In 2013, he joined the Czech Philharmonic.
He has won several performance competitions (Kroměříž 1994, Chomutov 1995, Olomouc 2000) and the Prague Spring International Competition 2002.
Tomáš Františ is a sought-after interpreter of contemporary music. In the Czech Republic, he has premiered bassoon concertos by 20th century the French composers A. Jolivet (1999) and J. Francaix (2000), and the Czech contemporary composer M. Hybler (2008).
As a soloist, he frequently partners with major Czech orchestras (Czech Philharmonic, Prague Chamber Philharmonic, Brno Philharmonic, Czech Chamber Philharmonic Pardubice, Pilsen Philharmonic, Berg Orchestra, and others).
Tomáš organises public concerts of both classical and contemporary music. He is a founding member of the Prague Modern Ensemble. Additionally, he is the founder of the Czech Society of Double Reed Instruments, which is dedicated to promoting and teaching bassoon. Since 2007, he has been teaching at the Prague Conservatory and, since 2022, at the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
Přemysl Vojta
Winner of the 2010 ARD International Music Competition, Přemysl Vojta is widely acknowledged as one of today’s most intriguing and sought-after horn players. As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Prague Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Kanagawa Symphony Orchestra. After a successful debut at Beethovenfest Bonn in 2011, he was honoured with the Beethoven Ring, a prestigious prize previously awarded to artists such as Igor Levit, Lisa Batiashvili, and Gustavo Dudamel. Přemysl Vojta has made an international impact through his engaging CD productions, which encompass a complete recording of Joseph and Michael Haydn’s horn concertos, and the album “Metamorphosis”, featuring three different types of French horns.
In 2021, he was appointed Professor of French Horn at the Folkwang University of the Arts (Folkwang Universität der Künste) in Essen, Germany, succeeding the legendary Hermann Baumann and Frank Lloyd.
Přemysl Vojta received his first horn lessons at the age of ten at the Jaroslav Kvapil Primary School of Art in Brno under the guidance of Olga Voldánová. A little later, faced with the choice between competitive swimming and music, the talented athlete opted for the arts. His studies brought him to Bedřich Tylšař at the Prague Conservatory and to Christian-Friedrich Dallmann at the Berlin University of the Arts. While still a student, he assumed the position of solo horn player at the Konzerthaus Berlin, and later also at the orchestra of the Berlin State Opera and the WDR Symphony Orchestra. As a guest principal horn player, he has collaborated with various orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Přemysl is a member of the Carousel Ensemble and the Breeze Wind Quintet.
Petr Ries
Petr Ries, a double bass player, graduated from the P. J. Vejvanovsky Conservatory in Kroměříž. During his studies at the conservatory, he also studied conducting and composition. In 2003/2004 he participated in a study stay at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Dance in Paris in a class taught by Professor Jean-Paul Celea. He completed his studies at the Music Faculty of the Academy of Music, Drama and Fine Arts in Prague, where he studied under the guidance of Professor Jiří Hudec.
He has won prizes in various competitions, e.g. Competition of Conservatories Teplice (1996, 1st prize), F.Gregora International Competition Kroměříž (1997, 1st prize), the Moravian Autumn International Competition (1998, 2nd prize), Internationale Musikwettbewerb Markneukirchen (1999 7th prize), Internationale J.M. Sperger Musikwettbewerb Michaelstein (2002, 2nd prize), the Moravian Autumn International Competition (2003, 2nd prize) and in the Talent of the Year 2002 Competition Prague, where he played Sergei Koussevitzky’s Concerto in F minor, together with the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra. It was broadcast live by the Czech Radio.
In 2003, he earned a post in the Symphony Orchestra of the Czech Radio in an open audition. Half a year later, he became Co-Principal double bass player in the Czech Philharmonic.
Petr Ries also performs as a soloist. He regualarly gives solo recitals and has been accompained by several Czech and foreign orchestras. As a chamber performer, he has cooperated with the Baborak Ensemble, the Pavel Haas Quartet, the Bennewitz Quartet, the Zemlinsky Quartet, the Martinů Quartet, the Kocián Quartet, the Belfiato Quintet, the PhilHarmonia Octet, etc.
He is currently a member of the Prague Chamber Soloist and the Haydn ensemble Prague.
He has been a lecturer at the Masterclass in Litomyšl since 2003 and at the Summer Academy in Kroměříž since 2021. He was a professor at the International Conservatory of Music in Prague from 2009 to 2015.
Source: www.petrries.cz
Rudolfinum, Dvořák Hall
The Rudolfinum is one of the most important Neo-Renaissance edifices in the Czech Republic. In its conception as a multi-purpose cultural centre it was quite unique in Europe at the time of its construction. Based on a joint design by two outstanding Czech architects, Josef Zítek and Josef Schultz, a magnificent building was erected serving for concerts, as a gallery, and as a museum. The grand opening on 7 February 1885 was attended by Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, in whose honour the structure was named. In 1896 the very first concert of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra took place in the Rudolfinum's main concert hall, under the baton of the composer Antonín Dvořák whose name was later bestowed on the hall.
