Programme:
Robert Schumann
Fantasy Pieces, Op. 73

Johannes Brahms
Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 2 in F major, Op. 99

Jean Sibelius
Malinconia, for Cello and Piano, Op. 20

Sergei Prokofiev
Sonata for Cello and Piano in C major, Op. 119

Cast:
Lukáš Vondráček – piano
Alexej Stadler – cello

The laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition in Brussels (2016), the Opava native Lukáš Vondráček (* 1986) will perform the spectacular Schumann’s Fantasy Pieces to invite the Petersburg native Alexei Stadler (* 1991) to the stage. Together they will present two generously designed pieces for cello and piano. Brahms wrote his Second Sonata for Robert Hausmann, who more than twenty years earlier successfully introduced the First Sonata. The great plans are also indicated by the names with Italian attributes: vivace, affettuoso, passionato and molto.

In the late 1930s, Sergei Prokofiev still benefited from close contacts with both the free West and the Bolshevik East as well. By the end of the 1940s, however, the game was over and the naive, broken, lonely composer found one of the few late pleasures in contact with cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, for whom he wrote several compositions, including the natural and extraordinarily difficult sonata.

The delicate Sibelius’ “melancholy”, which tragically pictures the composer’s heart after the death of his beloved daughter, will complete the programme.