This concert presents three of Janáček’s greatest choral works. Songs of Hradčany for soprano, female chorus, flute and harp from 1916 was composed during the First World War. In Janáček’s mind Hradčany does not represent a bombastic magisterial symbol of Czech statehood. The series of fragile images of Hradčany’s hidden areas is more about expressing feelings of modesty and affection. In Halfar the Schoolmaster, the first of Janáček’s celebrated trilogy of male choruses set to the poetry of Petr Bezruč, Janáček for the first time managed to find a unique, expressive choral composition. It captures the personal tragic drama of an individual who is driven to suicide by social pressure. The Wandering Madman, Janáček’s greatest male chorus with soprano solo from 1922, based on a poem by the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, is one of the most stirring works from Janáček’s entire choral output. The poet’s motif of eternal search chimes with the composer’s lifelong artistic pilgrimage.

For the last twenty years of his life, the composer Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959) was forced to live in exile due to the unfavourable political climate. Therefore, he could only return to his homeland in a symbolic manner, which was most often through his musical writings.  The composer had been deeply touched by the simple folk verse of his old friend from Polička, the writer Miroslav Bureš, who celebrated the landscape of the Czech-Moravian Highlands and the local folk customs. This inspired a loose cycle of chamber cantatas that set Bureš’s poetry to music. In addition to The Opening of the Wells (1955) and Legend of the Smoke from Potato Fire, there is the magical Romance of the Dandelions (1957), the story of a young woman awaiting the arrival of her loved one from the army, and Mikeš of the Mountains (1959), a children’s story about Mikeš who with his herd of goats fights frost, blizzards, and manages to defend his hill, where they graze, against them.

Prague Philharmonic Choir is a first-rate vocal ensemble with a tradition stretching back some eighty years. The principle choirmasters since the 1960s have been Josef Veselka, Lubomír Mátl, Pavel Kühn, Jaroslav Brych and Jan Rozehnal. Lukáš Vasilek has been the principal choirmaster since 2007. Its concert partners have included the best orchestras in the world, such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgwbouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, the Boston and the San Francisco Symphonic Orchestras, and naturally the Czech Philharmonic. It has worked with leading conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Jiří Bělohlávek, Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Chailly, Riccardo Muti, Sir Simon Rattle and Michael Tilson Thomas. Since 2010 the choir has performed at more than three hundred concert and musical productions. The ensemble has a wide repertoire which is focused on a cappella, cantata and oratorio works from classical music to the present day. In recent years the Prague Philharmonic Choir, in various chamber formats, has also been invited to perform Renaissance and Baroque music. The Prague Philharmonic Choir has been the choir in residence at the prestigious Bregenzer Festspiele opera festival since 2007.

Lukáš Vasilek studied conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts and music science at Charles University’s Faculty of Arts in Prague. From 1998 to 2009 he was the choirmaster of the Foerster Chamber Choir, and from 2005 to 2007 he was also second choirmaster of the Opera Chorus at the National Theatre in Prague. In 2005 the Union of Czech Choirs conferred upon him the award of Choirmaster Junior. He has been the choirmaster of the Prague Philharmonic Choir since 2007. In addition to a study programme and directing the individual concerts, part of his work is to prepare the ensemble for large-scale cantata, oratorio and opera projects. There have been several CD recordings of the choir under his direction (e.g. Deutsche Gramophon, Sony Classical and Supraphon). In 2010 Lukáš Vasilek organized the musical preparations for the jazz vocal ensemble which accompanied Bobby McFerrin at his concerts in the Czech Republic. In the same year he also established a professional chamber choir called Martinů Voices, which focuses mainly on music from the 20th and 21st century. He also occasionally conducts orchestras.

Ondřej Pivoda