10TH ZELENKA FESTIVAL PRAGUE – DRESDEN, 11TH – 20TH OCTOBER 2024
This year’s festival will take place from 11th to 20th October 2024 in Prague and Dresden. The opening concert will feature the Czech premiere of Zelenka’s Salve Regina ZWV 204, performed by Canadian soprano Elisabeth Hetherington and the Spanish Pérgamo Ensemble. The second concert in Prague will showcase music from the fascinating Dresden collection of instrumental music, stored during Jan Dismas Zelenka’s tenure and known as Cabinet II (Schrank II). This concert, featuring virtuoso works by Vivaldi, Veracini, and Pisendel, was prepared by Spanish violinist Javier Lupiáñez with his ensemble, Scaramuccia Ensemble. A spectacular setting of the Psalms in the programme Psalmi Vespertini III, performed by Ensemble Inégal and the Dresdner Kammerchor under the direction of Adam Viktora, will be the highlight of the final concert on Wednesday, 16th October, the anniversary of Zelenka’s baptism. The same programme will also be performed on Sunday, 13th October, at the Dresden Annenkirche.
Friday 11/10/2024 – 19.30
Church of Our Lady under the Chain, Lesser Town (Kostel Panny Marie pod řetězem, Malá Strana)
SALVE REGINA
/Zelenka, Heinichen, Gasparini/
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Elisabeth Hetherington – soprano
Pérgamo Ensemble /ES/
The Pérgamo Ensemble has been instrumental in the rediscovery of Zelenka’s Salve Regina ZWV 204, previously unknown to the public, as well as in the rediscovery of another important work from the Dresden archive, Francesco Gasparini’s Regina Coeli. Both compositions, along with other works by Johann David Heinichen, Zelenka’s predecessor as Kapellmeister of the Dresden Court Orchestra, will be featured at the opening concert.
Sunday 13/10/2024 – 17.00
Annenkirche, Dresden
J. D. ZELENKA: PSALMI VESPERTINI III
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Dresdner Kammerchor /DE/ and Ensemble Inégal /CZ/
Adam Viktora – conductor
In a joint performance by Ensemble Inégal and the Dresdner Kammerchor, under the direction of Adam Viktora, Zelenka’s third Vespertini cycle, Psalmi Vespertini III, will be performed. The composition of this and the other three cycles is related to Zelenka’s growing importance and prestige within the milieu of his home, the Dresden Hofkapelle. From the second half of the 1720s onwards, Zelenka also served as Kapellmeister there, which prompted him to build a repertoire of his own works as well as those of his contemporaries.
Monday 14/10/2024 – 19.30
Knights‘ Hall of the Grand-Priest’s Palace, Lesser Town (Rytířský sál Velkopřevorského paláce, Malá Strana)
SCHRANK II – MUSICAL TREASURE FROM THE SECOND CABINET AS THE STORY OF A MUSICIAN’S LIFE
/Vivaldi, Veracini, Pisendel/
___________
Javier Lupiáñez – violin, artistic director
Scaramuccia Ensemble /ES/
The central figure behind the fascinating collection of instrumental music known as Schrank II (Cabinet II), named after the place where it was stored in the Dresden court, was Johann Georg Pisendel, one of the most famous violinists of the 18th century. This concertmaster of the Dresden Hofkapelle, and Zelenka’s closest friend and colleague, also had close personal and professional ties with Vivaldi, Telemann, and Bach. This programme was prepared by the Spanish violin virtuoso Javier Lupiáñez, who has long and systematically devoted himself to the gradual discovery of the previously unknown and hidden riches from the Schrank II collection.
Wednesday 16/10/2024 – 19.30
Church of Our Lady under the Chain, Lesser Town (Kostel Panny Marie pod řetězem, Malá Strana)
J. D. ZELENKA: PSALMI VESPERTINI III
___________
Dresdner Kammerchor /DE/ and Ensemble Inégal /CZ/
Adam Viktora – conductor
In a joint performance by Ensemble Inégal and the Dresdner Kammerchor, under the direction of Adam Viktora, Zelenka’s third Vespertini cycle, Psalmi Vespertini III, will be performed. The composition of this and the other three cycles is related to Zelenka’s growing importance and prestige within the milieu of his home, the Dresden Hofkapelle. From the second half of the 1720s onwards, Zelenka also served as Kapellmeister there, which prompted him to build a repertoire of his own works as well as those of his contemporaries.
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Sunday 20/10/2024 – 11.00
Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and St. Charles the Great, Prague Karlov
TRADITIONAL MASS FROM THE 22ND SUNDAY AFTER THE SENDING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
/Latin Mass in the Tridentine Rite with Renaissance music from the circuit of Zelenka’s interest/
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Spherae sonantes, Free Music Fraternity /CZ/
A traditional Holy Mass from the 22nd Sunday after the Descent of the Holy Spirit, offered for Jan Dismas Zelenka. Each year, at the Church of the Assumption and St. Charles the Great in Prague’s Karlov, we honour the memory of Jan Dismas Zelenka as a godly man to whom we owe much of the beauty that surrounds us.
The festival is organized by Ensemble Inégal with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture, the City of Prague, and the Czech-German Future Fund.
