The closing concert continues the tradition of showcasing high-quality regional orchestras, featuring the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra under the baton of chief conductor Ondřej Vrabec and pianist Daniel Wiesner. The program will be shaped by a neoclassical spirit—reflected both in the “Mozartian” orchestral arrangement and in the overall dramaturgy.

The festive evening will open with Claude Debussy’s beloved Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, a work by a composer who greatly fascinated Bohuslav Martinů during his studies in Paris under Albert Roussel. It was during this formative period that Martinů composed his Piano Concerto No. 1, an early work steeped in Parisian influence, complete with unmistakable jazz elements.

The second half of the concert transports us to the small Californian town of La Jolla, whose music society commissioned the eponymous piece from Martinů. Composed in 1950, Sinfonietta La Jolla represents the composer’s final “return” to neoclassicism. In contrast to its central role earlier in the evening, the piano here functions more as an obbligato instrument. The opening movement even features a Moravian folk melody, Bolavá hlavěnka, which Martinů also used as the main theme in his Symphony No. 5.

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