Toronto, Canada - Czech Philharmonic; Jan Mráček, violin - Dvořák, Mahler

Programme
Antonín Dvořák: Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor

Performing with
Jan Mráček, violin
Czech Philharmonic

For over a century, the Czech Philharmonic is one of the great orchestras of Europe and has represented the pinnacle of Czech cultural achievement. In 1896, Antonín Dvořák conducted the orchestra’s debut performance at the Rudolfinum, still home to the orchestra’s Prague concerts. Led by renowned conductor Semyon Bychkov, the orchestra will perform two evenings of works by Dvořák, Smetana, and Mahler for their Koerner hall debuts.

Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Czech Philharmonic, Semyon Bychkov’s season started in Prague with the official concert to mark the Czech Republic’s Presidency of the EU and continued at the Dvořák Prague International Music Festival with concert performances of Dvořák’s Rusalka. Now in his sixth season, Semyon Bychkov’s relationship with the Orchestra has become noticeably deeper with extraordinary performances of the great Czech masters running in parallel with a much-acclaimed Mahler cycle, and memorable performances of Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, Strauss, Schumann, and Beethoven.

Czech violinist Jan Mráček began studying violin at the age of five and has performed as a soloist with the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra and Romanian Radio Symphony, both under Sascha Goetzel, Lappeenranta City Orchestra (Finland), Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra (FOK), Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, and almost all Czech regional orchestras. “Mráček, gifted with phenomenal musicality, is able to give the content of every single phrase, every motif.” (Harmony Magazine)