You are in the archive Go to the current program
Wednesday, September 9, 2015, 8.00 pm
St. Agnes Convent
Chamber Series

Gallery

Programme

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sonata D major K.V. 311Antonín Dvořák: Piano pieces, Op. 52Antonín Dvořák: Poetic Moods, Op. 85 (selection)Franz Schubert: Impromptus, Op. 90, No. 1 and 4

The Dvořák Prague Festival is presenting one of the best Czech pianists of the present time, Ivo Kahánek, who this year is also curator of the festival's entire chamber series (the 'Chamber Music Society'). As evident from the programme of his solo recital, the core of his repertoire lies mainly in music of the Romantic period – hence Dvořák's Piano Pieces, Op. 52 and his Poetic Moods as well as the two Impromptus by Franz Schubert. The concert will open with a work in the Classical style, Mozart's Sonata in D major, which will clearly demonstrate Kahánek’s performing powers. 

  • Dress code: dark suit
  • Doors close: 7.55 pm
  • End of concert: 9.30 pm

Artists

Ivo Kahánek

The pianist Ivo Kahánek is one of today’s most successful Czech performers. After graduating from the Janáček Conservatoire in Ostrava and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, he furthered his education at London’s famed Guildhall School and at a number of masterclasses. At the age of 25, he became the overall winner of the Prague Spring International Music Competition. Besides giving solo recitals, he appears with renowned orchestras (Czech Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne) and conductors (Vladimir Ashkenazy, Pinchas Steinberg, Jiří Bělohlávek). In 2007 at London’s famed BBC Proms, he performed the Piano Concerto No. 4 (“Incantation”) by Bohuslav Martinů. In November 2014 he became just the second Czech pianist in history (after Rudolf Firkušný) to appear with the Berlin Philharmonic. Sir Simon Rattle conducted the performance. He has a number of acclaimed recordings to his credit with the music of Frédéric Chopin and Leoš Janáček among other composers. His CD from last year with piano concertos by Dvořák and Martinů has been awarded this year by the prestigious British music journal BBC Music Magazine as the Recording of the Year in the Concerto category.

St. Agnes Convent

The Convent of St. Agnes in the 'Na Františku' neighbourhood of Prague's Old Town is considered the first Gothic structure not only in Prague but in all of Bohemia. It was founded by King Wenceslas I in 1233–34 at the instigation of his sister, the Přemyslid princess Agnes of Bohemia, for the Order of Saint Clare which Agnes introduced into Bohemia and of which she was the first abbess. The convent was preceded by a hospital. The 'Poor Clares' originated as an offshoot of the Order of St. Francis of Assisi, and the convent was at one time known as the Prague Assisi. Agnes was an outstanding figure in religious life of the thirteenth century. Besides this Clarist convent she also founded the only Czech religious order – the Hospital Order of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star. She was canonized in 1989.