anidmusica - classical music

(c) Petra Hajská   Manfred Honeck first held the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic in the 2008/2009 season. At the same time he also became the Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, with which he will be working until the end of the 2019/2020 season. He has had a lifelong love affair with the works of Gustav Mahler, and he approaches the work of Antonín Dvořák, a key composer for the Czech Philharmonic, not only with an attitude of respect, but also with daring creativity and a desire to find the music’s innermost essence. This Austrian conductor is graced with warmth, humility, generosity, and devotion. Concerning the significance of his work, he has this to say: “Sometimes conductors want to be seen as big heroes of the world, but this is not always true. They should know the real heroes are the composers. Actually, without Mahler, Mozar...

  The Cecilian Music Society in 1933 (c) Karel Šuster Ústí nad Orlicí is a seemingly inconspicuous small town situated 150 kilometres east of Prague. A centre of the weaving and drapery industries for hundreds of years, it was even dubbed the “Manchester of the East” in 19th-century Bohemia. Today, this tradition is no longer pursued, yet the town has retained a musical continuity, an inseparable part of which is the Cecilian Music Society, one of the oldest Czech music associations. Still thriving today, it has played a vital role in the musical development of the entire region, survived wars, reforms, and even the Communist regime. The society has existed for more than 200 years. Published with a kind permission of the Czech MusicQuaterly magazine. You can find the full article in 2014/4 issue. … Music associations and the birth of the Cecilian Music Society We do not know when precisely a few persons in Ústí nad Orlicí began considering the establishment...