29. 6. 2024 • Petr Kadlec
It was 30 years ago at the age of 76 that Rafael Kubelík returned to Czechoslovakia from the exile into which he had departed in the summer of 1948. Because of his health, he had not been conducting since the mid-1980s, but freedom in his native country had the effect of living water, and he decided to take up the conductor’s baton once again.
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26. 4. 2024 • Philharmonious
In the podcast Philharmonious, Czech Philharmonic chief conductor Semyon Bychkov recalls the magical moment when he first heard Mahler’s music as a boy. Now, 60 years later, he is preparing to record Mahler’s complete symphonies with the Czech Philharmonic. He finds that the orchestra and Mahler are a good fit because of their shared roots and also because of the orchestra’s legendary sound. “When I hear the warmth of the orchestra’s sound, I feel and hear their enormous heart. It always brings me joy.”
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21. 2. 2024 • Philharmonious
In the complex world of orchestral conducting, Maestro Jakub Hrůša stands as a central figure in harmonizing tradition and innovation. In the Philharmonious podcast, he shares a deeply nuanced perspective of the classical music scene, encompassing his reflections on the Czech conducting tradition and his insights into the intricate dynamics among conductors, orchestras, and repertoire.
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3. 5. 2023 • Alice Horáková
The Rudolfinum breathtaking building is a gem of Prague Art Nouveau and masterfully enhances the concert and exhibition experience with its architecture. But few would expect a sophisticated system of state-of-the-art technology in a listed building. Yet it is the one that breathes, lights, heats, and cools the building and, unseen, unheard, day after day,
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13. 3. 2023 • Filip Tomášek
The Rudolfinum building is a unique architectural masterpiece, a home of the muses and a temple of art. However, not all of its spaces are accessible to visitors. This also applies to the roof terrace for the time being. The situation is set to change with a plan that aims to make significant structural changes to the terrace and open it up to the general public.
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17. 1. 2023 • Jakub Raš
Today, you can get to Rudolfinum from the Lesser Town via the Mánes Bridge. Before 1914, however, you would have crossed the river on a chain footbridge. It was built as the third suspension bridge over Vltava which really suited Prague, as you can see for yourself in the photo gallery.
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30. 11. 2022 • Adéla Dražanová
Let me begin with a brief comment. It is very, very difficult to do an interview with Semyon Bychkov. Semyon is a truly fantastic storyteller. Whether you have an hour, two hours, or (just theoretically) a whole day, it is never enough. You want more. By the second or third question, you find that the world around you has vanished, and all that exists is Semyon’s world. And it does not matter whether the maestro is telling you about his childhood in Leningrad or about conducting in Vienna.
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26. 10. 2022 • Jakub Kožíšek
After thirty years, the reconstruction of the main concert hall at Prague's Rudolfinum shook the stage. Although its demanding replacement took place during mere 30 days of summer downtime, the special oak planks had been prepared for months. As a result of the efforts by the Rudolfinum administration and the Teak company, the new floor is a delight especially to the ears: only silence can be heard.
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18. 1. 2022 • Anna Picard
“No music on earth can compare to ours” sings the child in the last movement of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. Compared to the vast worlds of sound, emotion, philosophy and poetry in Mahler’s Second and Third Symphonies, this is a delicate and concise work with which to introduce a wider audience to Semyon Bychkov’s Mahler Cycle with the Czech Philharmonic. Composed in the last year of the nineteenth century and the first year of the twentieth, it is more gentle than the First Symphony, more innocent than the Fifth, and devoid of the existential terror that creeps into the Sixth and Seventh Symphonies.
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