CZECH PHILHARMONIC

The 'Česká filharmonie' ('Czech Philharmonic') is a symphony orchestra based in Prague and is perhaps most well known and respected orchestra in the Czech Republic. It was voted one of the top 10 best orchestras in Europe in a survey organized by the French magazine ''Le Monde de la Musique''^[1]

Contents

History

Honours and awards

Chief Conductors

References

External links

History

The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra was formerly the orchestra of the Prague National Opera. It played its first concert under its current name on January 4, 1896 when Antonín Dvořák conducted his own compositions, but it did not become fully independent from the opera until 1901. In 1908, Gustav Mahler led the orchestra in the world premiere of his ''Symphony No. 7''. The orchestra first became internationally known under the baton of Václav Talich, who was principal conductor from 1919 to 1931, and again from 1933 to 1941.
Subsequent conductors included Rafael Kubelík (1942-1948), Karel Ančerl (1950-1968), Václav Neumann (1968-1989) and Vladimir Ashkenazy (1996-2003). Zdeněk Mácal has been the chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic since September 1, 2003. Sir Charles Mackerras, Czech music specialist, is principal guest conductor.

Honours and awards

Czech Philharmonic won many prestige awards, ten Grand Prix du Disque de l'Académie Charles Cros, five Grand Prix du disgue de l'Académie française and several Cannes Classical Awards. The Czech Philharmonic was nominated for Grammy Awards in 2005.
Czech Philharmonic won two Wiener Flötenuhr awards, with Pavel Štěpán, Zdeněk Mácal and Václav Neumann (1971 and 1982).

Chief Conductors

★ 1901-1903 Ludvík Čelanský ★ 1903-1918 Vilém Zemánek ★ 1919-1931 Václav Talich ★ 1933-1941 Václav Talich ★ 1942-1948 Rafael Kubelík ★ 1950-1968 Karel Ančerl

★ 1968-1989 Václav Neumann ★ 1990-1992 Jiří Bělohlávek ★ 1993-1996 Gerd Albrecht ★ 1996-2003 Vladimir Ashkenazy ★ 2003-''present'' Zdeněk Mácal

References

1. The Top Ten European Orchestras, According to Ten European Media Outlets

External links

★ Česká filharmonie official site

★ Film of Czech Philharmonic in rehearsal