Bohuslav Martinů and Prague Spring 2019

The 74th International Music Festival Prague Spring will take place in May and June of the next year. The festival will offer several concerts with Bohuslav Martinů's music, for example his String Quartets Nos. 3 and 5, Fantasia for Theremin and Concert for Oboe and Small Orchestra.

„The mission of the Prague Spring is to bring you concerts which aspire to become events of the season. I am confident that the forthcoming edition will fully reflect this endeavour,“ says director of the festival Roman Bělor. On May 24th, Carolina Eyck (theremin), Alžběta Jamborová (oboe), Karel Košárek (piano) and Bennewitz Quartet will perform Martinů’s famous Fantasia for Theremin, Oboe, String Quartet and Piano, H 301. “Martinů was one of the first composers to write for the theremin – his Fantasia was premiered in the autumn of 1945. It is especially well written for the instrument,” says Carolina Eyck, currently one of the most sought-after performers on the theremin who already performed the piece during Bohuslav Martinů Days Festival back in 2015. String Quartet No. 3, H 183 and Butterflies and Birds of Paradise for piano, H 127 willl also be heard during the evening. 

One day after, Quatuor Zaïde will perform in Czech National Bank String Quartet No. 5, H 268 by Bohuslav Martinů. This young French quartet won Vienna´s prestigious International Haydn Competition in 2012, which was followed up by a flood of invitations from prominent concert venues. On May 26th, Feininger Trio performs Martinů‘s Piano Trio No. 2, H 327. „Underlying the music of his Piano Trio No. 2 is its composer´s longing for a lost home,” believe the trio members which is comprised of two musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra – violinist Christoph Streuli and cellist David Riniker, and pianist Adrian Oetiker.

The festival will feature the 71st International Music Competition Prague Spring, in which young oboeists and flutists from around the world will compete. Finalists in oboe will perform Concerto for Oboe and String Orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams, or Concerto for Oboe and Small Orchestra, H 353 by Bohuslav Martinů. In the oboe category, 186 musicians from 36 countries enrolled. Most of them are from Japan (22), South Korea (21).