A festival of fusion

here is music in the air all month long in Prague with the seventh annual Prague Proms music festival promising a lineup of the best international classical, jazz and fusion acts, many of which will perform with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra (CNSO) between June 21 and July 23. This year boasts an especially strong showing of trumpet headliners.

"The Prague Proms festival is a slightly different kind of festival," said Jan Hasenöhrl, the manager of CNSO.  "Related to the summer season, we are trying to bring classical music together with jazz and other crossovers, which is the actual musical tendency."

Hasenöhrl says he is particularly looking forward to the performance of "maestro" Ennio Morricone, an Italian composer who is most well known for his film scores, which span genres as diverse as spaghetti westerns (he wrote the score for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly with Clint Eastwood in 1966) to horror and art films. Morricone will conduct the CNSO in a program of his best-known film scores in two concerts July 14 and 15 at the Prague Municipal House, a prominent Art Nouveau building that's worth a visit even if you don't have concert tickets.

"And we have other stars," adds Hasenöhrl, "like first-class jazz musician Terence Blanchard."

A Grammy Award-winning trumpeter, as well as a noted composer, band leader and arranger, American Terence Blanchard will jazz it up with his quintet, who will back him on tenor saxophone, piano, contrabass and drums July 6 at Žofín Garden overlooking the Vltava.

Touting his trumpet classical style, French horn player Guy Touvron will give a classical chamber concert July 8 at the beautiful St. Agnes Convent, which houses one of the best collections of religious art in the country. Touvron will play some of his standard repertoire of classical pieces like Telemann and Grieg, as well as a special performance of Quintetto in E flat major for strings written by Czech composer Josef Mysliveček, a little-known friend and mentor to Mozart.

Big-band trumpeter Bobby Shew rounds out the brass section with a performance July 20 at the Municipal House, where he'll delight audiences with a selection of original tunes as well as covers of jazz favorites like Round Midnight by Cootie Williams and Thelonious Monk, and Waltz for Debby by Bill Evans.

In addition to the CNSO, other great local acts featured at the festival include the Smetana classical trio, which performed early in the festival June 22, and organist Kateřina Chroboková, who will play a solo concert at a special "Night in the Cathedral" concert at the Church of St. Barbara July 5.

Other thematic nights include a "Jazz Night" tribute concert to Duke Ellington July 12 at Žofín Garden, and a "Hollywood Night" in which the CNSO will be lead by guest conductor Carl Davis in a program of memorable Hollywood film soundtracks from favorite flicks like Jurassic Park, Moon River, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Lord of the Rings, James Bond films and more. The final concert July 23 is a special gospel showcase with gospel choirs from around the world.

Though the festival billing is packed with big names in a variety of musical circles from around the globe, Hasenöhrl is especially proud of the CNSO in its virtuosic ability to support so many different styles musically.

"The only orchestra that is featured is the CNSO, the home one, which is able to play all the styles introduced at the festival. Simply said: It will be Berlioz and Tchaikovsky right next to Morricone, Zimmer and Ellington. "

For more information about tickets and performers visit Pragueproms.cz

Emily Thompson can be reached at
ethompson@praguepost.com