LEOŠ JANÁČEK
The Fiddler's Child, symphonic poem
CÉSAR FRANCK
Psyché, symphonic poem
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK
Piano Concerto in G minor Op. 33
Lukáš VONDRÁČEK | piano
PRAGUE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Jac van STEEN | conductor
LUKÁŠ VONDRÁČEK
Following recent debuts with the Chicago, Pittsburgh and London symphony orchestras, Lukáš Vondráček has a season packed with highlights ahead of him. In 2021/22 he will debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at Hollywood Bowl and return to renowned orchestras such as Baltimore and Chicago symphony orchestras, both under the baton of Marin Alsop. Elsewhere Lukáš Vondráček will appear with Orchestre National de Lille conducted by Lionel Bringuier, Warsaw Philharmonic as well as the Turku and Malmö symphony orchestras. Recital projects will take him to the Rudolf Firkusny Piano Festival at Prague’s Rudolfinum and the Kissinger Summer Festival. He will take his residency with the Janáček Philharmonic into the next season and continue his recording cycle of all Rachmaninov Piano concertos with Prague Symphony Orchestra.
Over the last decade Lukáš Vondráček has travelled the world working with orchestras such as the Philadelphia, Tasmanian and Sydney Symphony orchestras, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Symphony Radio Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic and Netherlands Philharmonic orchestras under conductors such as Paavo Järvi, Gianandrea Noseda, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Marin Alsop, Christoph Eschenbach, Pietari Inkinen, Vasily Petrenko, Jakub Hrůša, Anu Tali, Xian Zhang, Krzysztof Urbański, Stéphane Denève and Elim Chan, among many others.
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK
As apparent from the survey of Dvořák’s concerto pieces, the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1876) was his first serious attempt in this particular genre (apart from the early Cello Concerto in A major, without an orchestrated piano part). Dvořák conceived the concerto in contradiction to the then norms for romantic instrumental concertos. Although the solo part is challenging, it lacks the showy superficial effects and glaring virtuoso passages characteristic of the concertante style. Unlike Schumann, Liszt or Chopin, Dvořák was not a piano virtuoso, hence the style of his piano concerto. The solo part draws inspiration most of all from Beethoven.
