Kavakos’ Contrasts with the Czech Philharmonic
Mozart and Prokofiev may seem musically worlds apart, but this concert proves otherwise. Their elegance and underlying melancholy bring them closer than one might expect.
Ticket prices:
690 – 3 490 CZK
Date
16/9/2025
Location
Rudolfinum, Dvořák Hall
Time
8 pm
Doors Closed
7.55 pm
End of Concert
9.40 pm
Dress Code
Dark suit
Programme Series
Programme
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Sergei Prokofiev
Artists
Gramophone’s 2024 ‘Orchestra of the Year’, the Czech Philharmonic gave its first concert – an all-Dvořák programme conducted by the composer himself – in the famed Rudolfinum Hall on 4 January 1896. The Orchestra is acknowledged for its definitive interpretations of Czech composers and recognised for its special relationship with the music of Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Mahler, who conducted the world première of his Symphony No. 7 with the Orchestra in 1908. It is currently recording the complete cycle of Mahler symphonies with Chief Conductor and Music Director Semyon Bychkov for Pentatone.
The Czech Philharmonic’s extraordinary and proud history reflects both its location at the very heart of Europe and the Czech Republic’s turbulent political history, for which Smetana’s Má vlast has become a potent symbol. 2024 was the Year of Czech Music, a major celebration launched on the bicentenary of Smetana’s birth and held across the Czech Republic every ten years. The Czech Philharmonic marked Smetana’s bicentenary with a series of concerts at the Smetana Litomyšl Festival, including a rare concert performance of his opera Libuše, conducted by Principal Guest Conductor Jakub Hrůša.
The contribution of the Czech Philharmonic and Semyon Bychkov to the Year of Czech Music was the Dvořák Festival, a combined performance of three overtures, instrumental concerts, and the last three symphonies of Antonín Dvořák, both in Prague and on tour in South Korea, Japan, Spain, Austria, Germany, Belgium, and France. The highlight of the Year of Czech Music performed by Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic was a series of three concerts in New York's Carnegie Hall.
Alongside the Czech Philharmonic’s Youth Orchestra, Orchestral Academy, and Jiří Bělohlávek Prize for young musicians, a comprehensive education strategy engages with more than 400 schools, bringing students of all ages to the Rudolfinum – some travelling as long as four hours – to hear concerts and participate in workshops. An inspirational music and song programme led by singer Ida Kelarová for the extensive Romani communities within the Czech Republic and Slovakia has helped many socially excluded families to find a voice.
An early champion of the music of Martinů and Janáček, the works of Czech composers – both established and new – remain the lifeblood of the Orchestra. Instigated by Semyon Bychkov at the start of his tenure, nine Czech composers and five international composers – Detlev Glanert, Julian Anderson, Thomas Larcher, Bryce Dessner, and Thierry Escaich – were commissioned to write for the Orchestra.
source: Česká filharmonie
Leonidas Kavakos is recognized across the world as a violinist and artist of rare quality, acclaimed for his matchless technique, his captivating artistry and his superb musicianship, and the integrity of his playing. Kavakos works regularly with the world’s greatest orchestras and conductors and appears in recital at the world’s premier recital halls and festivals. In recent years, Kavakos has built a strong profile as a conductor and has conducted such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Filarmonica della Scala.
Kavakos is an exclusive recording artist with Sony Classics. Releases have included the Beethoven Violin Concerto which he conducted and played with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the re-release of his 2007 recording of the complete Beethoven Sonatas with Enrico Pace, for which he was named ECHO Klassik Instrumentalist of the year. In 2022 Kavakos released Beethoven for Three: Symphony No. 6 “Pastorale” and Op.1, No. 3 arranged for trio, with regular recital partners Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma. Further albums from this series containing arrangements of Beethoven symphonies will be released in coming years. With his chamber group the ApollΩn Ensemble, he recently released Bach: Violin Concertos to critical acclaim. Kavakos was named Gramophone Artist of the Year.
Born into a musical family in Athens, Kavakos curates an annual violin and chamber music masterclass in Athens, which attracts violinists and ensembles from all over the world. In 2022, he was declared a regular member of the Chair of Music in the Second Class of Letters and Fine Arts for his services to music. Kavakos plays the “Willemotte” Stradivarius violin of 1734.
source: Intermusica
About the Programme
Bringing Mozart to Prague might seem as unnecessary as carrying owls to Athens. But Greek violinist and conductor Leonidas Kavakos has a rare gift—he can reveal new depths even in the most familiar music. Described by Gramophone as a violinist of “crystalline and noble Mozartian style,” he will perform Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 not only with exquisite elegance but also while leading the orchestra himself, Stradivarius in hand. This was a common practice in Mozart’s time, when the composer personally performed in Prague to rapturous acclaim.
Setting the violin aside, Kavakos will then conduct Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 6, a work whose refined elegance, tinged with quiet melancholy, reaches across the centuries to shake hands with Mozart. It is almost hard to believe that such universally compelling music was once condemned by communist authorities—on Stalin’s orders, even those who had praised it days earlier were forced to denounce it. But its beauty endures, allowing listeners both to momentarily forget past injustices and, at the same time, to remember them all too well.
We thank our partners for supporting the concert
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.