Composers in Interwar Prague
Programme:
- Jan KLUSÁK: Partita for strings
- Viktor ULLMANN: Piano Concerto, Op. 25
- Alexander ZEMLINSKY: Symphony No. 2 in B flat major
About programme:
The period between the two world wars gave rise to many composers, both Czech and foreign, in Prague’s cultural life. One of the most important and interesting composer figures of these years is certainly Viktor Ullmann. His haunting Piano Concerto is rightly becoming a part of the repertoire of world pianists. One of them is the Lyon-based pianist Marina Samson, whom we welcome to our concert. The opening of the concert will also feature the Partita for Strings by composer Jan Klusák (*1934), whose jubilee this year will be commemorated by the performance of this work. In the second half of the concert we will hear the Second Symphony in B flat major by composer and conductor Alexander Zemlinsky, who made an indispensable contribution to the development of culture with his work at the German Theatre in Prague.
We would also be pleased to welcome you to a discussion with composer Jan Klusák before the concert at 6.30 pm.
The concert is part of the Year of Czech Music.
Performers:
Marina Samson – piano
Marina Samson is a representative of the world-famous Heinrich Neuhaus school of piano, under whose guidance her professors L. Timofeeva and B. Petrushansky. She comes from a musical family with a three-generation tradition. After arriving in France in 1992, she won the Grand Prix at the Pierre Lantier International Competition in Paris, which launched her concert career throughout Europe, including England, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy. She has performed repeatedly in the Czech Republic, for example at the 2019 Chopin Festival in Mariánské Lázně. She has taught at the Schole Cantorum in Paris, conducts masterclasses and regularly sits on the juries of international competitions. Her repertoire interests extend to the performance of music by lesser-known composers such as Fanny Mendelssohn, Nikolaj Medtner and Mieczysław Weinberg.
Marina Samson’s discography includes both Shostakovich piano concertos (recorded and released in England) and four recordings in collaboration with the ArcoDiva label, including an album of a selection of Mozart sonatas, a double album of works by Schumann and a unique project featuring the music of Nobel Prize-winning writer Boris Pasternak in manuscript. Her recordings have also received recognition in the international professional press.
Martin Peschík – conductor
Martin Peschík studied piano and conducting at the Conservatory in České Budějovice. He graduated in conducting from the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno in the class of Prof. Jan Zbavitel. As a conductor he has collaborated with the National Theatre in Brno, the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra in Olomouc, the South Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic, the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra in Mariánské Lázně and others. Since 2002 he has worked at the South Bohemian Theatre in České Budějovice as choirmaster and conductor and since January 2008 as chief conductor. He has staged many operas, operettas and ballets there (Rigoletto, Faust, The Love Potion, The Mouthpiece, Martha, Rusalka, Jacobin, The Gypsy Baron, The Bat, The Princess of Chardonnay, etc.). He has conducted in many European countries (Germany, Austria, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark) and at major music festivals (Janáček Brno 2004, Opera 2003 and 2005, Festival of Chamber Music Český Krumlov, etc.). In October 2011 Martin Peschík was appointed chief conductor of the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra in Mariánské Lázně. From 2011 to 2016 he also held the position of the orchestra’s director.
