PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION

Philharmonia, or ‘liking harmony’, is the main motto of PhilHarmonia Octet Prague ensemble, at whose birth were the oboe player Vilém Veverka and bassoonist Václav Vonášek. Let’s acknowledge it - the players who form the ensemble really sound in perfect harmony. Each of them is a master in his own field. The wind octets, in the past also known as ‘the harmony’, enjoyed their greatest popularity at the end of the 18th century. Consequently, the focus of their repertoire has been music from the Classical era. Yet, the PhilHarmonia Octet Prague does not stick just to this music. On the contrary. They courageously include twentieth and twenty-first century music in their repertoire. Going stylistically beyond the evening’s programme and providing onomatopoeic fireworks will be the world premiere of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition arranged by Tomáš Ille.