Conductor James Conlon visited Martinů Institute

 In November 2023, the conductor and music director of the Los Angeles Opera, James Conlon, visited the Martinů Institute. Maestro Conlon is a big Martinů fan and is very interested in his orchestral and operatic works.

The famous conductor James Conlon was in Prague on a one-week private visit with his wife. He  was visiting Prague for the first time since 1982 and was impressed by how beautiful the city had become since then. At the Institute, he studied the critical edition of The Frescoes of Piero della Francesca with great interest.   Although he has performed this piece regularly during his career, his preparations were always hampered by the poor quality of the score and performing materials.  

He also concentrated on Martinů’s operas during his visit, especially the one-act opera What Men Live by and the hitherto unperformed first version of the one-act opera Mariken. He also showed great interest in staging the Double Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Piano and Timpani and some other compositions.  He studied a collection of digital copies of Martinů's autograph scores, as well as our library and online catalogue, containing almost 9,000  items of correspondence either written by Martinů or relating to him.    His involvement with the music of composers who perished during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia naturally led him to examine Martinů’s Memorial to Lidice, as well as to visit Terezín during his stay in the country.

The meeting was very cordial because James Conlon is connected to Martinů  through his long-standing friendship with Martinů’s friend, the pianist Rudolf Firkušný, and with Firkušný’s children Veronique and Igor.