The charismatic French-Belgian cellist Camille Thomas comes to Ostrava to play one of the most popular romantic cello concertos.

Lukáš Janata
SWIRL

Camille Saint-Saëns
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33

Josef Suk
Fantastic Scherzo Op. 25

Leoš Janáček
Taras Bulba, Rhapsody for Orchestra

Camille Thomas – cello
Janáček philharmonic Ostrava
Andrey Boreyko – conductor

In addition to presenting established and renowned works, the Year of Czech Music gives the JPO the opportunity to present works by young Czech artists more frequently. One of them is composer Lukáš Janata, who currently lives and works in San Francisco. Janata’s music has won numerous awards and has been performed in many venues in Europe, the USA, and the United Arab Emirates.

The first of two cello concertos by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns dates from 1872 and was written for French cellist Auguste Tolbecque. This brief and breezy melodic work has become one of Saint-Saëns’ most performed works and one of the most popular romantic cello concertos. The composition will be performed by the young, charismatic French-Belgian cellist Camille Thomas.

Although Josef Suk’s Fantastic Scherzo from 1903 is one of his more minor orchestral works, its distinctive blend of dreamlike fantasy and the grotesque in masterful instrumentation makes it a hidden gem of Czech music.

Leoš Janáček’s symphonic rhapsody Taras Bulba was written during the war years of 1915-1918. The tale of the Kazakh ataman Taras Bulba, in a literary setting by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, inspired the composer to write a powerful, expressive musical poem that is one of Janáček’s most impressive orchestral compositions.