May 21 – The Smetana Hall in the Municipal House of Prague hosts the Orchestra of the National Academy of Santa Cecilia, conducted by Antonio Pappano, with Jan Vogler as cello soloist. The ensemble will take the stage on Thursday, May 28 at 8pm. The Italian Cultural Institute of the Czech capital is media partner of the event, which is sponsored by the Italian Embassy in Prague. “The Orchestra – reads the presentation statement of the Institute – performs in Prague for the first time and will perform at the international ‘Pražské jaro’ music Festival (“Prague Spring”)”. The Orchestra will perform Giuseppe Verdi’s La forza del destino, Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme in A major, Op. 33, and Jean Sibelius’ Symphony no. 2 in D major, Op. 43. The orchestra was founded in 1908 and has been directed by the most important musical figures of the twentieth century: Mahler, Strauss, Stravinsky, Toscanini, Mengelberg, Furtwängler, De Sabata and Karajan as well as the most prestigious performers of our times (Carlos Kleiber, Georg Solti, Claudio Abbado and Riccardo Muti). (Red)
