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Sunday, September 11, 2016, 8.00 pm
St. Agnes Convent
Chamber Series

Gallery

Programme

Antonín Dvořák: Cypresses, a song cycle, B. 11Johannes Brahms: Die Mainacht, op. 43/2; Wie bist du, meine Königin, op. 32/9; Es träumte mir, op. 57/3; Nachtwandler, op. 86/3Richard Strauss: Ich trage meine Minne, op. 32/1; Heimliche Aufforderung, op. 27/3; Zueignung, op. 10/1

In performances by the outstanding tenor Pavel Černoch, who reaps triumphs on the most prestigious operatic stages of Europe, we'll hear a representative selection of songs by Johannes Brahms and Richard Strauss as well as a rare programming treat: Dvořák's almost unknown first song cycle, Cypresses.

  • Dress code: dark suit
  • Doors close: 19.55
  • End of concert: 22.00
  • Aftertalk

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.

Pavel Černoch

Pavel Černoch is considered one of the foremost Czech tenors of his generation. He studied voice privately with the Italian master Paolo De Napoli in Florence, and earned a degree in music management at Brno's Janáček Academy of Performing Arts. His stage debut was in 1998 in Mozart's The Magic Flute with the Janáček Opera in Brno. Since 2010 he has been a regular guest with such leading European opera companies as the State Operas in Berlin, Munich, and Hamburg, Milan's La Scala, the Grand Theatre in Moscow, the Stuttgart Opera, the Opéra Bastille in Paris, the Teatro Real in Madrid, and the Opera la Monnaie in Brussels. His most important roles have included Alfredo in La Traviata, Lensky in Eugene Onegin, Števa in Jenůfa, the Prince in Rusalka, Jeník in The Bartered Bride, and Don José in Carmen. He performs regularly in the Glyndebourne Festival, and with the City of Birmingham Symphony under Andris Nelsons (singing Rodolfo in Puccini's La bohème and the tenor solos in Verdi's Requiem). He has also worked with such conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Kirill Petrenko, Simon Rattle, Charles Dutoit, Jiří Bělohlávek, Tomáš Hanus, and Jakub Hrůša.

Pavel Černoch - tenor

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.