Martinu Revisited: 50th anniversary events worldwide
(February 2009)
The 50th anniversary of Bohuslav Martinu’s death on 28 August 1959 brings a focus on his music around the world, led by celebrations in the Czech Republic. Events are being co-ordinated under the banner of Martinu Revisited by the Martinu Foundation in Prague. For full information visit www.martinu.cz.All the major Czech orchestras and opera companies have planned features on Martinu in the 2009/10 season and his music provides the main theme for the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra’s programme. The Prague Spring festival will be dedicated in 2009, and partly in 2010, to Martinu’s oeuvre and the international contexts for his music. The National Museum will hold an extensive exhibition on the composer’s life and work and the Bohuslav Martinu Centre in his native town of Policka will be inaugurated in April. The National Theatres in Prague and Brno have programmed important Martinu stage works including Julietta and the Plays of Mary.
Highlights outside the Czech Republic include Jirí Belohlávek conducting Julietta with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Magdalena Kožená in the title role at the Barbican (29 March). Martinu's compelling opera, subtitled The Book of Dreams, has not been heard in London for over 30 years. Its surrealist libretto, ever-shifting cinematic action and dreamscapes are subtly etched in a score packed with fantasy and psychological insight. The concert staging is preceded with a pre-performance talk at 6 pm.
For tickets to Julietta visit the Barbican website.
Other Martinu operas in the UK during the anniversary year include the composer's version of Gogol's comedy The Marriage, performed by the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London on 3 June. Garsington Opera presents Mirandolina [published by Bärenreiter], based on a comedy by the eighteenth century playwright Carlo Goldoni, with 5 performances from 18 June. Other European opera performances are at the Budapest Spring Festival and Zürich Opera.
Orchestral highlights include the New York Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert in performances of Symphony No.4 (Apr/May) and works programmed by leading orchestras in Berlin, Vienna, Dresden, Paris and Brussels. The BBC Symphony Orchestra presents a complete cycle of Martinu's six symphonies in its 2009/10 season at the Barbican in London, conducted by Jirí Belohlávek.
A special Martinu festival is to be hosted by Basel (Oct-Nov), a city with close connections to the composer as he spent his last years in the region as a guest of Paul Sacher.
> Further information on Work: Julietta
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