Year in Review: Classical

For some in Prague's opera and classical music community, 2010 may have been a little too eventful.

The year began in high style, with the National Theater's reprise of Janáček's penultimate opera, The Makropulos Case, based on the play by Karel Čapek. This production was directed by Christopher Alden with German soprano Gun-Brit Barkman starring. The Art Deco set design was the perfect complement to the heroine's fight to remain immortal, and Alden's direction brought out the more energetic aspects of the script. Above all, Janáček's powerful score provided the driving force for this excellent opera.

The annual Prague Spring festival returned in May for its 65th installment, with a stellar program of performances from world-class musicians, including French horn player Radek Baborák, who played a program of Telemann, Haydn and Mozart backed by his ensemble. The festival's scope was wider than it had been in previous years, with performances stretching over several genres by artists like Anne-Sophie Mutter, Pierre Boulez, André Previn and even legendary rock group Blue Effect, who kicked off the festival in an open-air concert on Old Town Square.

By the summer, however, cracks were starting to show in the facades of Prague's high culture, literally. After years of wrangling and funding shortages, the National Theater underwent the first phase of a cosmetic reconstruction. The project is expected to take four years.

In May, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra's director, Vladimír Darjanin, a popular leader among musicians, was dismissed. The culture minister at the time, Václav Riedlbauch, named Václav Kasík as his successor, without a selection process. In protest, the Philharmonic staged a free performance on the front steps of the Rudolfinum in May, weeks after refusing to take to the stage at a scheduled performance. Kasík resigned Aug. 31 and was soon replaced by David Mareček, previous head of the Brno Philharmonic.

Those looking to escape the controversy of Prague's classical music scene in late summer were lucky to have the Český Krumlov International Music Festival, which hosted an international cast of top-ranking musicians, including Czech pianist Pavel Kašpar, who played a program of Mozart and Schubert backed by the Talich Chamber Orchestra.

The other great classical music festival of the year, Strings of Autumn, returned for its 15th year with a program of incredible scope, from the Mongolian throat-singing ensemble Alash to German opera star Anne-Sofie von Otter, who performed an intimate duet of love songs with the virtuoso pianist Brad Mehldau at Obecní dům.

Kayhan Kalhor and Brooklyn Rider were another standout performance at Strings of Autumn, bringing their signature melding of Western jazz and classical music with Kalhor's mastery of Iranian music played on his kamencheh, a traditional Iranian string instrument.

The year wasn't fully dominated by the large festivals, however. More than previous years, Prague audiences began to embrace more-challenging music. Contempuls, a festival of contemporary music, returned with a string of performances over the month of November, featuring the best in new music performed by musicians from all over Europe, including Klangforum Wien, a 24-member ensemble of international musicians based in Austria. The ensemble had recorded some 70 albums and made more than 2,000 appearances in major concert halls and opera houses across Europe before making their Prague debut at the festival.

Several international stars performed in Prague for the first time this year, including Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien, who performed a concert of unparalleled variety backed by the Prague Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Polish conductor Lukasz Borowicz in November. The program consisted of arias from Rossini, Mozart, Bellini, Donizetti, Musorgski, Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Rachmaninoff and Verdi, which Kwiecien selected as a way to introduce himself to the local audience. His rousing performance was enthusiastically received, and the singer seems likely to return.

The final month of 2010 brought the year full circle, with legendary American director and set designer Robert Wilson visiting Prague to work on a new dramatic version of Čapek's The Makropulos Case. Wilson's lush set designs and powerful direction made this play one of the major highlights of the year.

Funding shortfalls have plagued Prague's public theaters for several years, and the upcoming year doesn't promise much improvement. Private investors have become vital to the city's cultural community, and smaller-scale festivals have sprung up, managing to make do with fewer funds. Let's hope that Prague's renowned performers will have more to celebrate in 2011.

Stephan Delbos can be reached at
sdelbos@praguepost.com