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Sunday, September 20, 2015, 5.00 pm
Family Day

Programme

Classic Buskers & Neil Henry: Musical MagicThis concert is a part of Family Day11.00 am - Collegium 1704 with Václav Luks, Rudolfinum, Dvořák Hall1.30 pm - Eve Quartet Open Air, Rudolfinum, steps (Dvořák, Ježek, Gerschwinn)1.30 pm-4.45 pm - On the Trail of Dvořák with Children, Rudolfinum (workshops)3.30 pm - Classic Buskers Open Air, Rudolfinum, steps (a little taste)5.00 pm - Classic Buskers & Neil Henry, Musical Magic, Rudolfinum, Dvořák Hall

The Dvořák Prague Festival cares a great deal about little listeners, and so it has prepared a real treat for them: two musical comedians who are also outstanding instrumentalists together with one of Britain’s top magicians will deliver a hilarious show during which you are allowed to whoop, shout, laugh out loud, and applaud whenever you like. You can expect some forty different wind instruments, an accordion, dry English humour, and certainly not a dull moment.  

Download programme of Family Day

  • Dress code: casual
  • Doors close: 4.55 pm
  • End of concert: 7.00 pm

Artists

Classic Buskers

The Classic Buskers consist of a pair of musicians, Michael Copley and Ian Moore, who devise masterful programmes that are amusing both to the youngest listeners and to connoisseurs of classical music. They have performed in more than twenty-five countries, and thanks to Copley's linguistic talent have presented their programme in seventeen different languages. 

Michael Copley plays more than forty wind instruments, both typical and atypical. He has performed on many prestigious concert stages, e.g. in the Royal Albert Hall and Carnegie Hall. As soloist on the recorder he has performed with ensembles such as the English Chamber Orchestra and the Academy of Ancient Music. He is interested in everything that pertains to Eastern Europe, and regularly visits Bosnia where he works with handicapped children and adults.  

Ian Moore is a virtuoso on the accordion, but also conducts, composes, and arranges. As an outstanding organist, he can play the complete organ works of J. S. Bach from memory.

Neil Henry

The popular British illusionist Neil Henry performs his magic tricks regularly in London’s Covent Garden. He has appeared in many television programmes (including on the BBC) and demonstrated his art of magic in innumerable venues such as the Cambridge Theatre in London’s West End and the City Center Theatre in New York’s Broadway, and even in a performance for the Queen of England. In 2014 he undertook a tour of South Korea, Mexico, and China with the Classic Buskers. With his assistance, unexpected things happen during the Musical Magic presentation: musical instruments disappear, the conductor's stand runs away, bottles, glasses, and animals emerge out of thin air, the baton suddenly changes into a rubber band, the players' ears start smoking. Neil Henry spices up the sparkling programme of the Classic Buskers with a myriad of tricks and illusions that make this splendid musical performance even more attractive. 

Rudolfinum, Dvořák Hall

The Rudolfinum is one of the most important Neo-Renaissance edifices in the Czech Republic. In its conception as a multi-purpose cultural centre it was quite unique in Europe at the time of its construction. Based on a joint design by two outstanding Czech architects, Josef Zítek and Josef Schultz, a magnificent building was erected serving for concerts, as a gallery, and as a museum. The grand opening on 7 February 1885 was attended by Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, in whose honour the structure was named. In 1896 the very first concert of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra took place in the Rudolfinum's main concert hall, under the baton of the composer Antonín Dvořák whose name was later bestowed on the hall.