Programme: – Jan Novák: Variation on a theme of Bohuslav Martinů – Bohuslav Martinů: Symphony No. 3, H. 299 – Antonín Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B Minor, Op. 104
At his first performance as the Residential Artist of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra’s season, Jean-Guihen Queyras will be performing one of the most popular works of the violoncello repertoire, Antonín Dvořák’s Concerto in B Minor. In Queyras’ hands, it will definitely become the highlight of the evening, which is why it is included in the second part. The first will be under the sign of the relationship between a teacher and a student, also concealing the horrors of the Second World War. The Chief Guest Conductor of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Marek Šedivý, will first present the Variation on a Theme by Bohuslav Martinů from Jan Novák. Most likely Bohuslav Martinů’s most famous student, he composed it on a fragment of the Field Mass from the year 1939. The bright, almost hymnal nature character of the work creates a sharp contrast with the tension of the dramatic Third Symphony, which Martinů composed in American exile in 1944 for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Serge Koussevitzky.