Czech-Swiss soprano Martina Janková will perform the Mozart & Mahler concerts on Thursday and Friday at Janáček Theatre, organised by Filharmonie Brno. Photo credit: Neuzil
Brno, March 22 (BD) – The Czech-Swiss soprano Martina Jankova, known primarily as an interpreter of Mozart and Baroque music, has been invited to participate in the Mozart & Mahler concerts, to take place on Thursday and Friday.
“She is one of the best for this project,” said Marie Kučerová, director of Filharmonie Brno, adding that a somewhat unusual role awaits chief conductor Dennis Russell Davies on both nights. He will take the solo part in Mozart’s aria and will thus conduct the orchestra from the piano.
The evening will open with Richard Strauss’s one-note, which marked his professional emergence in 1881. After this, Martina Janková will take the stage with the orchestra with two works by Mozart: “Al desio di chi t’adora” (At the request of those who adore you) and “Ch’io mi scordi di te?” – “Non temer”. The former is an aria composed for a revival performance of “The Marriage of Figaro” and features unusual instrumentation for basset horns, bassoons and horns.
The second half of the evening will be devoted to Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, setting anonymous German folk poetry and referring to Mozart’s classicism, with the final soprano solo presenting a childlike vision of heaven through the song “Das Himmlische Leben”. Mahler composed the final, fourth, movement first, allowing him to build the first three movements to set up an effective finale. “The picture of heaven presented in the song is seemingly joyous, with dancing, jumping, and singing in all kinds of variations,” said musicologist Matěj Kratochvíl. The symphony ends in complete calm, with ringing repeats in the harp’s lowest register.
Tickets for both concerts are available at the Filharmonie presale, or at https://filharmonie-brno.cz/. As last week, the Brno Philharmonic is offering free admission to refugees from Ukraine. Listeners can make a donation to the Diocesan Charity of Brno at the venue.
Brno Daily is a media partner of Filharmonie Brno, providing English-language coverage of its program and news.
