Classical Music at Werich’s is a festival of outdoor chamber music recitals and concerts taking place from 29 June to 7 September 2021, always at 7 p.m., in the Werich Villa Garden on Kampa Island in Prague’s Malá Strana district.
Over five summer evenings, this unique location on the banks of the Čertovka will come alive with the sound of classical music performed by exceptionally talented young artists – consummate professionals who have had success on both the domestic and international stage.
Visitors can look forward to both sung and instrumental concerts. The sung repertoire will showcase works by Czech, French, and Spanish composers.
The instrumental concerts have a cosmopolitan flavour, with works selected to perfectly complement the surroundings and open-air setting of the festival.
Violinist Jan Mráček, the featured soloist for the first concert (29 June), is the youngest soloist in the history of the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra and winner of the International Fritz Kreisler Competition in Vienna.
Accompanied by Lukáš Klánský on piano, he will be performing Brahm’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, Smetana’s From My Homeland, Bartók’s Romanian Dances, Fibich’s Concert Polonaise, and concluding the evening with Mazurek by Dvořák.
Following this are two concerts devoted to sung repertory. The first, the French Evening (20 July), features mezzo soprano Ester Pavlů performing Hector Berlioz’s beguiling Summer Nights song cycle, with additional performances of two piano compositions by Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel respectively.
In Folk Tone (21 July) is a concert in tribute to Bohemian and Moravian folk songs. Eliška Gattringerová (soprano) and Roman Hoza (baritone) will perform breathtaking songs and duets by Leoš Janáček, Bohuslav Martinů and Antonín Dvořák. Both of these evenings will feature piano accompaniment by leading répétiteur Ahmad Hedar.
The fourth concert (10 August) offers a taste of Spain served up by guitarist Barbora Kubíková, who can be counted as one of the brightest talents among the current generation of young guitarists. The guest vocalist for the evening will be mezzo soprano Ester Pavlů. These artists are connected through their work with world-renowned Argentinian tenor, conductor, and theatre director José Cura.
The first festival of Classical Music at Werich’s will be closed by the Parnas Quintet (7 August), a wind quintet composed of members of the Janáček Operatic Orchestra of the Brno National Theatre and Brno Philharmonic.
Visitors can look forward to hearing the prelude to The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a suite from Carmen by Georges Bizet, Hungarian Dances by Ferenc Farkas, a selection from Vítězslav Novák’s Youth suite among others.
