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Date
22/9/2026
Location
St Agnes Convent
Time
8 pm
Doors Closed
7.55 pm
End of Concert
approx. 9.50 pm
Dress Code
dark suit
Programme Series
Programme
Francis Poulenc
Joseph Jongen
Antonín Dvořák
Artists
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Alinde Quintet is a winner of the ARD International Music Competition in Munich (2024). The ensemble was founded in 2019 by successful young interpreters from the Czech Republic – Anna Talácková (flute), Barbora Trnčíková (oboe), David Šimeček (clarinet), Kryštof Koska (French horn) and Petr Sedlák (bassoon), who studied at renowned music universities in London, Brussels, Ljubljana, Lyon and Brno, and whose paths led them back to Prague.
Members of the Alinde Quintet are united by dedication and a sincere love for music, honesty and depth of musical expression. They proved their uniqueness by becoming prizewinners of the Carl Nielsen International Chamber Music Competition (2023) in Copenhagen, the Bucharest International Wind Quintet Competition (2019), the ODIN International Chamber Music Competition (2020), the OPUS International Chamber Music Competition (2021) and the Antonín Dvořák Chamber Music Competition in Prague (2022). Alinde Quintet were finalists of the ROSL Competition in London (2024) and in 2025 became laureates of the Czech Chamber Music Society Award.
The ensemble has been performing regularly throughout Europe since 2019 and has released several studio recordings. They have appeared at renowned music festivals such as Prague Spring Festival (CZ), Newbury Spring Festival (UK), Chiltern Arts (UK), Audi Sommer (DE), Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele (DE) and Lago Maggiore (IT). In 2024, Alinde Quintet presented an exclusive premiere of their own arrangement of Antonín Dvořák’s Biblical Songs for wind quintet and bass-baritone, featuring Adam Plachetka.
The musicians of the ensemble are members of professional orchestras including Czech Philharmonic, National Theatre Prague, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and EUYO. As soloists, they are prizewinners of the Prague Spring International Music Competition, the International Competition in Chieri, Pro Bohemia Ostrava and Czech Clarinet Art.
Alinde Quintet’s debut album was released in November 2025 in collaboration with Supraphon and the German broadcaster SWR.
source: Alinde Quintet
photo © Andrej Grilc
In 2002, Miroslav Sekera won first prize at the International Johannes Brahms Competition in Pörtschach, Austria. Prior to this, he received numerous awards at prestigious competitions both in the Czech Republic and abroad, including first prize at the Frédéric Chopin Competition in Mariánské Lázně, first prize at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU) competition (YAMAHA Scholarship), and second prize at the International Competition in Gaillard, France. In 2016, he was honoured with the “Salon de Virtuosi” award in New York.
Sekera has performed as a soloist and chamber musician on many renowned stages worldwide, including the Wiener Konzerthaus and Musikverein in Vienna, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Opera City Concert Hall in Tokyo, and many other prominent venues.
He regularly collaborates with Czech Radio, leading Czech orchestras, and major festivals. His frequent artistic partners include violinist Josef Špaček and horn player Radek Baborák. In 2016, he made his debut at Prague’s Rudolfinum in the “World Piano Music” concert series and also performed at the Rudolf Firkušný Piano Festival.
In 2019, Sekera toured Japan with the legendary cellist Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and appeared as a soloist at the international festival in Karuizawa, Japan, performing Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat Major. In 2020, Supraphon released his solo album featuring works by Franz Liszt and Bedřich Smetana, which received critical acclaim, including recognition from pizzicato.lu. Together with conductor Marko Ivanović and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, he was awarded the Anděl Prize for their recording of works by Czech composer Miloslav Kabeláč.
In January of this year, he made his debut at the renowned Carnegie Hall in New York.
Miroslav Sekera teaches at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU) and the Iwami Ginzan Music Academy in Japan.
source: Agentura Makropulos
photo © Daniel Havel
About the Programme
Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Quintet No. 2: a piece played and requested so often – and yet it can still sound entirely new. It is one of the most frequently performed and beloved works of the chamber repertoire. In this performance, its character is transformed by an arrangement for wind instruments and boosted by the youthful vigour of the Alinde Quintet with guest pianist Miroslav Sekera.
The lyrical strings are replaced by the more penetrating, fuller yet equally stately sound of woodwinds and horn. Experiencing familiar music anew also provides an opportunity to enjoy the virtuosity of musicians facing entirely different technical demands. The “Romantic classicism” of Dvořák is preceded by two French neoclassicists’ works. Francis Poulenc and Joseph Jongen wrote lively, diverting pieces that evoke the most joyful spirit of European modernism after the First World War – music that may once have been provocative, but over time has become enchanting listening, infused with Offenbachian lightness and mastery.
With thanks to all who supported this concert
St Agnes Convent
The Convent of St Agnes in the 'Na Františku' neighbourhood of Prague's Old Town is considered the first Gothic structure not only in Prague but in all of Bohemia. It was founded by King Wenceslas I in 1233–34 at the instigation of his sister, the Přemyslid princess Agnes of Bohemia, for the Order of Saint Clare which Agnes introduced into Bohemia and of which she was the first abbess. The convent was preceded by a hospital. The 'Poor Clares' originated as an offshoot of the Order of St Francis of Assisi, and the convent was at one time known as the Prague Assisi. Agnes was an outstanding figure in religious life of the thirteenth century. Besides this Clarist convent she also founded the only Czech religious order – the Hospital Order of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star. She was canonized in 1989.