Brucknerian “pop” and Shostakovich’s defiance at the Prague Spring
After almost thirty-five years, one of Germany’s finest orchestras returns to the Prague Spring: the Berlin “think tank”, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, this time under the baton of the Czech conductor Tomáš Hanus. Having recently announced his sensational autumn debut at the Metropolitan Opera, Hanus has confirmed his standing among the most sought-after Czech conductors worldwide. The programme features two remarkable works: Anton Bruckner’s “boldest” Sixth Symphony and Dmitri Shostakovich’s celebrated Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 1, performed by Yuya Mizuno, winner of the Prague Spring Competition 2025.
“If one can speak of pop music in Bruckner, then the Sixth is at times almost a kind of Brucknerian ‘pop’ – of course in the best sense,” says Tomáš Hanus about the second work on the programme. “Bruckner can move one to tears; there is something profoundly truthful and guileless in his music, with no sense of emotional calculation or striving for effect.” The evening opens with Shostakovich’s first cello concerto, a work built around the composer’s D-S-C-H motif, which in its finale ironically quotes Stalin’s favourite song, Suliko, and today ranks among Shostakovich’s most popular works. Yuya Mizuno performs it on a rare cello by Pietro Giacomo Rogeri from 1730.
Join us for an exceptional concert featuring a superbly curated programme on 31 May in the Smetana Hall of the Municipal House ⤵️
