Update: 04.05.2022 15:42
Released: 04.05.2022, 15:42
Prague – Part of this year’s Prague Spring Festival program was the presentation of the Vltava Philharmonic’s winning designs in Prague and a concert for Ukraine. The 77th International Festival will offer forty concerts. The West-East Divan Orchestra will open on May 12 with the traditional Bedřich Smetana My Homeland performance. Conductor Daniel Barenboim will not perform with the orchestra due to health reasons, and will be replaced by Thomas Guggeis. Festival director Roman Blor told journalists about this today.
Barenboim had to be hospitalized for inflammatory vascular disease. “I’m really looking forward to this concert. But this time I have to prioritize my health. I am very grateful that Thomas Guggeis will soon represent me at this concert. My homeland is a very impressive, deep and moving work. happy because now “Our orchestra is able to perform in a number of European capitals as part of a tour that will culminate in the beginning of the Prague Spring,” said Barenboim. “The terms homeland and home are important to our orchestra because we still don’t have our homeland and our home,” he added to the East-West Divan Orchestra, where young Israeli and Arab musicians play side by side.
In recent days, the final of the architectural competition has ended in Prague, which will determine the appearance of the new cultural center in Prague, the center of which will be the top modern concert hall. The results of the competition will be announced and the winning designs from the Vltava Philharmonic will be presented as part of the Prague Spring on 17 and 18 May. “The ambition of our capital city management to establish a new cultural position of importance to the world after more than 100 years proves that Prague also wants to be a powerful music metropolis in the 21st century,” said Blor.
The festival recently included an extraordinary concert in honor of Ukraine. The Kiev Soloist ensemble, which is one of the leading Ukrainian musical ensembles, will perform on June 2 at the Church of St. Petersburg. Simon and Judy. The Russian invasion caught them abroad during a tour of Italy. The ensemble decided to stay outside Ukraine not only for security reasons, but also to hold concerts in support of their country. “We want to dedicate this concert to our family, our country and our soldiers, who are fighting for democracy around the world,” said violinist Anatoly Vasylkivsky, who is artistic director of the Kiev Soloists.
This year’s Prague Spring will offer a new Prague Descendants project dedicated to contemporary music in May. Its resident composer Prague Offspring in 2022 will be Olga Neuwirthová from Austria. The Vision and Dreams project will bring a concept that combines the music of old masters with the work of contemporary writers. Cellist Gautier Capuçon will be the festival’s regular artist. The event will conclude with a concert by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor Andris Nelsons. More information can be found at page festival.
According to Blor, ticket prices remain at the same level as in previous years. They are the most expensive for opening and closing concerts, when their prices range between CZK 2,100 and 4,900. This festival provides discounts for students, seniors and ZTP and ZTP-P cardholders.
About 28,000 tickets for the festival were sold for forty concerts. According to the organizers, the demand is lower than in previous years, but nowadays the trend is to buy tickets for cultural events at the last minute.
In 2019, the Prague Spring Festival offered more than 35,000 tickets, with sales of 23.1 million crowns. The previous year, there were 39,000 tickets which totaled sales of 25.3 million crowns. The following two years the festival was affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The Ministry of Culture and the City of Prague is the main contributor to the Prague Spring festival budget of around 80 million. About 40 percent receive the festival from sponsors, 20 percent from ticket sales and customer support associated with the Friends of the Prague Spring Club.
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