Prokofiev. Schubert
Tickets: CZK 1 300 | CZK 900 | CZK 700 | CZK 500 | CZK 300 (standing)
Children under the age of 15 – 50% discount
Andrew von Oeyen — piano
Iván López Reynoso — conductor
Sergei Prokofiev
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, op. 26
Franz Schubert
Symphony No. 9 in C major, D 944 – "The Great"
The season's second concert, too, stands with one foot firmly in the Americas.
The multi-talented Iván López Reynoso – a graduate in violin, piano, choral direction and conducting as well as an accomplished countertenor, and currently Principal Conductor at the Atlanta Opera – is equally at home with orchestras in Europe and his native Mexico.
Acclaimed US pianist of German and Dutch origin Andrew von Oeyen debuted at sixteen with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Esa-Pekka Salonen and has since appeared with many leading US orchestras as well as at numerous prestigious venues throughout Europe and Asia. He was soloist on the Prague Philharmonia's 2026 US tour, performing at its final, Carnegie Hall concert.
Prokofiev's demanding but widely loved Piano Concerto no. 3 was composed in Brittany and premiered in Chicago, with the composer as soloist. Its exuberant, at times explosive music, rooted in dramatic contrast and even conflict and packed with challenges both technical and musical, is the perfect vehicle for von Oeyen's refined musicianship, sparkling technique and facility for poetic expression.
Stark contrast with Prokofiev's rhythmic fire and caustic wit is provided by Schubert's expansive, luminous C major symphony – "the Great". Named thus to differentiate it from another, earlier of the composer's symphonies in the same key (to be heard in our programme A6), this monumental work was originally rejected by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, today's Wiener Musikverein, as "too long". Interestingly, when Mendelssohn later gave what is thought to have been its first performance, the work received lavish praise from no less a figure than Schumann, who particularly admired its "heavenly length".
Duration aside, this is heavenly music indeed. A masterpiece of orchestration, it removes us from the music of Beethoven, in which it has its roots, and into new worlds of sweeping lyricism, extravagantly shifting harmonies, and original instrumental colours (those Schubertian trombones!), all culminating in a finale that is surely one of the towering landmarks of the repertoire, paving the way for the music of Brahms and the other great Romantics.
