This year's festival Prologue crosses borders and invites listeners on an exclusive spring trip to Hamburg's architectural and cultural landmark – the Elbphilharmonie. The concert will present works by Czech masters performed by internationally renowned soloists alongside the upcoming generation of artists, organically connecting the Czech musical tradition with a broader European context.

From Parisian Modernism to a Terezín Memento

The evening’s dramaturgy relies on contrast and profound emotion. The program opens with Bohuslav Martinů and his Duo for Violin and Cello No. 1 (H 157). This composition, which blends the influence of the Parisian avant-garde with the rhythms of 1920s jazz, places extraordinary technical demands on both performers in terms of rhythm and mutual interplay.

A profound human dimension is added by the works of composers whose lives and works were tragically marked by war. The program includes the Trio for Violin, Viola, and Cello, which Gideon Klein completed in the Terezín ghetto in 1944, just nine days before his transport to Auschwitz. In direct contrast stands Pavel Haas’s lyrical and playful Wind Quintet, Op. 10. This masterpiece for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon is interwoven with influences from Moravian folklore and Jewish synagogue music.

The second half of the evening returns to the legacy of Bohuslav Martinů. The audience will experience his Eight Preludes for Piano from 1929, featuring distinct jazz elements and stylizations of the dance rhythms from the 1920's. The program concludes with the dance cycle Les Rondes (H 200). This outstanding chamber work, composed during Martinů’s stay in Paris in 1930, combines the sounds of piano, two violins, and a contemporary wind trio (oboe, clarinet, bassoon) in a neoclassical spirit full of brightness and energy.

A Dialogue Between Generations and Nine Top Performers

Nine outstanding musicians will perform in various chamber formations in the Recital Hall of the Elbphilharmonie. Renowned Czech and German performers will meet on stage in a creative dialogue with exceptional young talents of the upcoming generation from Germany, Great Britain, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Czech Republic.

"Collaboration with the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg and other partners allows us to present Czech music in the best light and at the highest international standard," says Irvin Venyš, festival director and one of the performing artists.

This concert is the result of a collaboration between the Bohuslav Martinů Days Festival, the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, the Faculty of Music and Dance of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU), the Prague Conservatory, and the Association of Concert Artists.

More information about the concert please find here: https://1url.cz/Uezvg