Ondrej Adámek: Thin Ice concerto for Christian Tetzlaff
Christian Tetzlaff is soloist in Ondrej Adámek’s second violin concerto, Thin Ice, unveiled at the Festival Présences in Paris on 8 February. Further performances follow in Winterthur and Prague, and with the London Symphony Orchestra in a future season.
Ondrej Adámek’s remarkable first violin concerto, Follow Me (2017), has travelled internationally with its soloist Isabelle Faust, attracting plaudits for its playful invention, sonic originality and dramatic impact. Now a second concerto, entitled Thin Ice, has been composed for violinist Christian Tetzlaff, which is unveiled in Paris on 8 February, one of two major Adámek works presented at the 2026 Festival Présences. The premiere at the Maison de la Radio et de la Musique features the Orchestre National de France conducted by Cristian Macelaru.
In the weeks following the first performance the new concerto travels to Winterthur for its Swiss premiere and to Adámek’s native city of Prague for its Czech premiere. The composer himself conducts the Musikkollegium Winterthur at the Stadthaus on 21 February, presented with support from the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, and Jonathan Nott is on the rostrum with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Rudolfinum on 23 February. The concerto is to be programmed by the London Symphony Orchestra, its fourth commissioner, in a future season, again with Tetzlaff as soloist.
The composer summarises Thin Ice as being “built on the contrast between raw energy and the voice of remorse, conscience, or fate”. Cast in four movements, the first sees “playfulness, exuberance, and inexhaustible energy frolic freely. Nothing is taboo: the music rushes forward in a carefree dance, eruptively releasing vitality and drive. Yet beneath the surface, a warning tone begins to grow. Joy gradually transforms into chaos and madness, ending in a plunge into the abyss.
“In the second movement, spontaneity is buried alive – control prevails over freedom. The soloist finds him/herself in an introspective, dark space. The atmosphere is suffocating: the voice of reproach alternates with urgent cries and feigned submission. The third movement attempts a revolt in a quiet, whispered dance. An illusion of freedom arises – but only an illusion. The weight of guilt repeatedly seeps into the music, interrupting every attempt at return.”
“In the final movement, carnival joy returns, this time almost violently. The music collides with the crushing force of conscience, standing against the desire to soar into freedom. Defiant high gestures clash with a deep, stern motif. Acceleration and repetition build toward a physical struggle. Two forces that cannot be reconciled - wrestle on thin ice.”
In addition to Thin Ice, the Festival Présences features the first French performance of Adámek's Where are You? (2020) at the Maison de la Radio et de la Musique on 7 February. Mezzo soloist is Magdalena Kožená, as at the work’s premiere in Munich conducted by Simon Rattle, joined in Paris by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Peter Rundel. The 35-minute work is an extended orchestral song cycle, setting multi-lingual texts that explore profound questions about God's existence and the meaning of life. A recording of the work was released in 2022 on the BR Klassik label alongside Follow Me.
Other recent Adámek works include his opera INES (2022-24), which combines a contemporary retelling of the Orpheus myth with a disturbing dystopian vision of the future after a nuclear catastrophe. The opera was premiered by Cologne Opera in June 2024 with the composer on the rostrum. This September brought the premiere of a new eight-minute Boulez tribute for orchestra, Between Five Columns (2025), performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by François-Xavier Roth.
Follow Me and Where are You? are published by Éditions Billaudot. Recent Adámek works are published by Boosey & Hawkes.
> Further information on Work: Thin Ice. Concerto for violin and orchestra No. 2
Photo © Villa Massimo / Alberto Novelli