Tamestit & Slobodeniouk & Czech Philharmonic
From Andersen’s fairy tales to the giant waves of the Pacific Ocean. A programme which found inspiration in the infinite colours of nature. Claude Debussy, Hector Berlioz and Kaija Saariaho.
Programme
- Kaija Saariaho: Ciel d’hiver
- Claude Debussy: La mer
- Hector Berlioz: Harold en Italie Op. 16
Performers
- Czech Philharmonic
- Dima Slobodeniouk – conductor
- Antoine Tamestit – viola
Pre-talk at 6:45 p.m. – Dima Slobodeniouk and Antoine Tamestit
Nature’s infinite colours, in a state of constant motion, are unsettling, also surprising and a source of true joy. This is how one might characterise the concert performed by the Czech Philharmonic with conductor Dima Slobodeniouk and violist Antoine Tamestit. The first half of the concert juxtaposes the piece Ciel d’hiver by popular Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho (1952–2023) with the spectacular symphonic sketch The Sea by Claude Debussy (1862–1918). While Saariaho’s spectral music evokes the strange chill of the Nordic winter sky familiar from Andersen’s fairy tales, Debussy’s composition, inspired by the dazzling print The Great Wave off Kanagawa, shimmers with a myriad forms of the sea – from the darkest currents and mysterious depths to the playful lapping of the waves and the glittering sunlight on the surface of the water.
Journeying through the Italian landscape
In the second half Harold in Italy will take you on a trip to the sun-drenched Italian landscape in this bighearted musical reminiscence by Hector Berlioz (1803–1869), a reflection of his student years spent on the Apennine Peninsula. It was here that he roamed the wild countryside with a guitar and rifle in his hand, enjoying the company of brigands and itinerant musicians known as pifferari. This unconventional symphony with solo viola also captivated the great Niccolò Paganini. The evening’s soloist, French violist Antoine Tamestit, is currently one of the world’s most acclaimed performers of this piece.
Discovering global stars
Antoine Tamestit convinced festival audiences of his artistic mastery back in 2023, when he was Prague Spring Artist-in-Residence. Conductor Dima Slobodeniouk, on the other hand, will be making his Czech public debut, yet he is already an international force: this season he returns to the Berlin Philharmonic, and last season he appeared with the New York Philharmonic and the Boston, San Francisco and Vienna Symphony Orchestras. This Russian-born Finnish conductor combines “lucidity and scrupulous balancing with an eruptive brilliance and intensity” (Chicago Classical Review) – another artist from an impressive succession of world stars whom the Prague Spring will be introducing to Czech audiences for the first time.
