THE ZELENKA FESTIVAL PRAGUE – DRESDEN
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11TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL DEDICATED TO THE WORK AND PERSONALITY OF CZECH BAROQUE GENIUS JAN DISMAS ZELENKA
The Zelenka Festival Prague – Dresden was founded by conductor and organist Adam Viktora in 2014. This created a new platform on the Czech music scene, providing impetus for the dissemination of Zelenka’s music around the world. After two editions in 2014 and 2015 held only in Prague, the festival was revamped in 2016 into an international project with concerts in both of Jan Dismas Zelenka’s main places of activity, Prague and Dresden.
Thanks to the activities of the Ensemble Inégal, the rediscovery of Zelenka’s music in Bohemia has been inextricably linked for 20 years with the Prague seat of the Order of Malta, the oldest knightly order in the world, and with the Czech Grand Priory. Most of Zelenka’s rediscovered music had its modern premiere in one of the most sacred places in Bohemia, the Church of Our Lady beneath the Chain, where the body of Charles IV was laid out before his funeral in 1378 and where St. John of Nepomuk, the patron saint of Bohemia, was captured in 1393. In 2007, Ensemble Inégal recorded Zelenka’s Missa Purificationis here, followed by several other CD recordings. Since 2014, the Zelenka Festival Prague-Dresden and dozens of other concerts have been held regularly not only in the Order’s church but also in the Knights‘ Hall of the Grand Priory Palace. Ensemble Inégal and Adam Viktora consider it an honor to have succeeded in so strongly connecting this blessed place with Zelenka’s legacy.
The Czech musical genius Jan Dismas Zelenka is currently considered one of the most significant baroque composers, alongside J.S. Bach, G. F. Händel and A. Vivaldi. His legacy is is a European phenomenon on the contemporary music scene and the newly revived works of this musical genius, both in terms of live performances and CD recordings, have literally rewritten the history of baroque music. Only a few years ago, nobody would have expected to discover such significant works of the European baroque, as evidenced by the enthusiastic reception of the performances and CD recordings of Zelenka’s previously unknown pieces everywhere around the world.
The festival is organized by the Czech musical group Ensemble Inégal. Lead by the conductor Adam Viktora, the ensemble, which has been promoting the legacy of this Czech musical genius for many years, has received many international musical awards for its performances of Zelenka’s works. Over the past quarter-century, Ensemble Inégal has performed over forty of Zelenka’s compositions in modern concert and recording premieres, recorded seventeen CDs of Zelenka’s music, and organized festivals and musicological conferences that help to revive and understand the significance of Zelenka’s work. As a sought-after and renowned interpreter of Zelenka’s music, it performs at music festivals in the Czech Republic, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Austria, and elsewhere.
