Winner’s concert
Paris in the rhythm of the 20th century. Winner of the Prague Spring flute competition 2026 Mäel Metzger, Jana Boušková, Eva Krestová and Miroslav Sekera in works by Poulenc, Debussy, Bozza and Prokofiev.
Programme
- Francis Poulenc: Sonata for Flute and Piano FP 164
- Claude Debussy: Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp
- Eugène Bozza: Image for solo flute Op. 38
- Sergej Prokofjev: Sonata for Flute and Piano No. 2 in D major Op. 94
Performers
- Maël Metzger – flute
- Miroslav Sekera – piano
- Eva Krestová – viola
- Jana Boušková – harp
“My endeavour to highlight 20th century French music in this programme reflects a wish to revisit my childhood memories when, as a child, I immersed myself in the universes of Debussy, Ravel, Saint-Saëns […] through works such as L’Enfant et les sortilèges and Le Carnaval des animaux,” states Maël Metzger, providing some background on his choice of programme. “A number of musicians were deeply affected by the music of Debussy early on in their lives, Poulenc and Prokofiev among them. When Prokofiev moved to France in the 1920s he and Poulenc became good friends and admirers of each other’s works. They often appear together in concert programmes thanks to their Neo–Classical inspirations, but the reason I chose to put them together is that Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Poulenc’s ballet Les Animaux modèles are also pieces I listened to when I was a child; these are works that awakened in me the desire to become a musician.
Forever young Claude Debussy
From the legacy of Claude Debussy (1862–1918) Maël Metzger selected the late Sonata from 1915, written for an unusual combination of instruments – the flute, viola and harp. Debussy spent that summer by the sea in Normandy with his wife and nine-year-old daughter “Chouchou”, sheltered from the cruelties of the First World War. He wrote to his publisher at the time: “All present-day life was far away, harmonious [musical] periods unfolded, oblivious of the tumult so near, and it all ended up so beautiful that I almost have to apologise for it.” In this piece, which evokes the magic of Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune and echoes of the famous Prélude La Fille aux cheveux de lin, the composer made a stylistic return to his youth. As he, himself, later wrote: “It’s by a Debussy I no longer know!”
Talented Maël Metzger
“I don’t think I have ever experienced so many emotions as I have today, here at the finals,” 22-year-old Maël Metzger told us straight after the announcement of the 2026 Prague Spring competition results. In addition to his triumph in Prague, this gifted young man won the Prix Fondation Safran pour la Musique a year earlier, and his CV also boasts appearances at the Philharmonie de Paris, the Pacific Music Festival in Japan and the renowned festival La Folle Journée de Nantes. Still a student at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique in Paris, Metzger will also earn his spurs this season as solo flautist with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester. During his first solo recital at the Prague Spring he will appear alongside top-flight Czech musicians Miroslav Sekera, Jana Boušková and Eva Krestová; the latter two artists are both members of the Czech Philharmonic.
