A Tradition That Refuses to Be Frozen in Time

Bohuslav Martinů, Igor Stravinsky, Richard Strauss, Vít Zouhar – four composers, four different eras, one shared perspective: tradition is a starting point, not a destination. Each of them engaged with the legacy of the past in their own way – with respect, playfulness, irony, and a free hand.

The evening opens with Serenade, Op. 7, by the twenty-year-old Richard Strauss—a work that still stands firmly in the Romantic tradition, yet already reveals the genius behind it. This will be followed by a suite from Stravinsky’s neoclassical Pulcinella, in which the composer explores with detachment and playfulness how to transform Pergolesi’s Baroque composition into a modern language. 

After the intermission, Vít Zouhar’s Ritorni will be performed; as the title suggests, the piece is based on the principle of recurring musical ideas, gestures, and sound structures that transform and re-emerge in new contexts. Zouhar’s music sensitively works with time, memory, and space, offering the listener a contemplative yet internally dynamic experience. The evening will conclude with Bohuslav Martinů and his Suite Concertante for Violin and Orchestra, which combines the soloist’s virtuosity with a rich orchestral texture, the energy of rhythmic structures, and lyrical melody. 

The solo part will be performed by Niklas Liepe—a German violinist, winner of the prestigious 2021 Opus Klassik Award, who records exclusively for Sony Classics, and whom Gidon Kremer has described as a “beeindruckende Künstlerpersönlichkeit”—an impressive artistic personality. He will be joined by the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice, one of the most distinctive Czech chamber orchestras, under the baton of the French-Swiss conductor Joseph Bastian, chief conductor of the Munich Symphony Orchestra, whose work has been described by the media as a “miracle of sound and musical culture.”

The concert is part of a fundraiser for the Bohuslav Martinů Institute. A portion of the tickets are available as donation tickets.