PROGRAMME

George Frideric Handel
Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351: La réjouissance (3’)

Hans Christian Lumbye
Copenhagen Steam Railway Galop (4’)

Mikhail Mikhailovich Ippolitov-Ivanov
Caucasian Sketches, Op. 10, 4th movement (7’)

Georges Bizet
L’Arlésienne, Suite No. 1: Carillon (4’)

Zoltán Kodály
Háry János: Song (5’)

John Williams
Harry Potter: Harry’s Wondrous World (7’)

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
Wedding March (5’)

Leonard Bernstein
Candide: Finale “Make Our Garden Grow” (4’)

PERFORMERS

Vojtěch Johaník – presenter
Lenka Jaborská – scriptwriter and director
Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava
Chuhei Iwasaki –  conductor

Music for the Royal Fireworks is one of the best known orchestral works by the Baroque composer George Frideric Handel (1685–1759). Handel wrote this dazzling piece in 1749 for a gigantic ensemble consisting entirely of wind instruments, intended for an open air performance as part of the celebrations marking the end of the War of the Austrian Succession and the signing of the Peace of Aachen. Shortly after its first performance, he prepared a version for string orchestra with wind instruments. In this form, the work became immortal and won the admiration of Handel’s contemporaries as well as future generations of composers. The premiere took place on 27 April 1749 in London’s Green Park as the musical accompaniment to a magnificent fireworks display. The work consists of five movements: Overture, Bourrée, La Paix, La Réjouissance and Menuets I & II.

Hans Christian Lumbye (1810–1874) was a Danish composer known as the “Strauss of the North”, who became famous for his lively waltzes, polkas and especially galops. These include the Copenhagen Steam Railway Galop of 1847. The piece celebrates the opening of Denmark’s first railway line, connecting Copenhagen and Roskilde. In it, the composer imitates the sounds of trains, including whistles and accelerating wheels. It is often performed by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, especially in the Tivoli Gardens, where Lumbye once conducted.

Caucasian Sketches is the best known orchestral suite by the Russian composer and teacher Mikhail Mikhailovich Ippolitov-Ivanov (1859–1935), written in 1894–1895. Inspired by the composer’s stay in Georgia, the work captures the exotic atmosphere of the Caucasus and is characterised by rich instrumentation and folk inspired motifs. The movements of the suite are: In a Mountain Pass, a sombre and atmospheric piece; In a Mosque, a calm and meditative movement; In the Village, a lively dance; and Procession of the Sardar, the best known and most frequently performed final movement, often presented separately. The composer worked as director of a music school and as a conductor in Tbilisi, then known as Tiflis, where he became deeply acquainted with Caucasian music, a knowledge that is also reflected in this work.

L’Arlésienne is an orchestral work by the French composer Georges Bizet (1838–1875). It was originally written as incidental music for a drama by Alphonse Daudet, which premiered in Paris in 1872. Although the play itself was unsuccessful, the music, with its rich orchestration, melodic themes and use of elements of folk music from southern France, was highly successful, and the composer subsequently arranged it into a suite for concert performance. The suite consists of four movements: Prélude, a well known and dramatic movement based on the melody of a Provençal Christmas carol; Minuet, a graceful and elegant movement; Adagietto, a very slow, lyrical and emotional passage; and Carillon, a festive final movement imitating church bells. The second suite was compiled only after Bizet’s death by his friend Ernest Guiraud.

Song, the third movement from the suite Háry János by Zoltán Kodály (1882–1967), is a lyrical orchestral piece from 1926 that evokes Hungarian folk song and nostalgia. It is known for its slow, wistful character, striking solo melodies and typical orchestration with elements of Hungarian folklore, and is often performed at a slow tempo. The third movement of the suite, frequently played on its own, offers a contrast to the more spirited sections. It highlights rich harmony and emotional melodic lines. The piece comes from the music to the opera Háry János, which tells the story of a Hungarian village hero and his fantastical adventures.

By 2001, John Williams (born 1932) was already one of the most sought after film composers in the world. With numerous awards and nominations to his name, he had already composed iconic scores for films such as Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones and Jaws. Warner Bros. and director Christopher Columbus were looking for a composer for the Harry Potter films and also approached Williams, who was asked to write promotional material for the film. Williams presented the first version of what we now know as the iconic Hedwig’s Theme. The triumphant, joyful and exciting piece Harry’s Wondrous World embodies the character of Harry Potter. In its opening bars, we recognise the famous Hedwig’s Theme before the music moves into a new theme created especially for Harry. The theme is used in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and it is also heard during the closing credits.

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809–1847) was a major German composer of the Romantic period. His famous Wedding March, with its delicate tones and moving melody, was originally part of the incidental music to William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The march became part of the wedding ceremony while the composer was still alive. This happened in the English town of Tiverton, where it was chosen by Dorothy Carew and Tom Daniel. The most important moment in its rise to fame came when it was performed at a royal wedding in London on 25 January 1858, when Princess Victoria married Frederick of Prussia.

Make Our Garden Grow is the uplifting and deeply sincere final section of Leonard Bernstein’s (1918–1990) 1956 operetta Candide. After a turbulent journey from a Westphalian idyll to disaster at sea, a Spanish brothel and the devastation of war, the young lovers Candide and Cunegonde renounce false optimism and grand illusions in order to accept a quiet life filled with meaningful work and personal responsibility on a farm. The “garden” symbolises a focus on the simple, nurturing aspects of life rather than the pursuit of abstract and unrealistic ideals. Frequently performed separately as a concert piece, it is regarded as one of Bernstein’s most enduring and moving melodies.

Vojtěch Johaník was born in Uherské Hradiště in 1986, where he spent his childhood and adolescence. After primary school, he trained as a CNC machine mechanic and then spent one year studying at a language school. He subsequently studied Theatre and Education at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno, graduating in 2011. He was a member of several Brno based theatre companies, including KočéBR, D’epog and BuranTeatr, as well as Divadlo Tramtarie in Olomouc. From the 2013/2014 season, he was engaged by the Zlín City Theatre. His first major acting opportunity there was the title role in the production of Eugene Onegin.

From 2018 until the end of the 2022/2023 season, he worked at the Petr Bezruč Theatre in Ostrava. From the following season, he became a new member of the drama ensemble of the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre. He made his first appearance on this stage in the role of director Lloyd Dallas in the production Noises Off.

He has also appeared on camera in several television series and films. In addition to several student films and television commercials, he appeared as Xavér in the horror film Ravenous Tiffany. He has acted in the series Cases of the 1st Department, Specialists, Ulice and Ordinace v růžové zahradě, and played the leading role in the Stream internet television series Pěstírna.

Lenka Jaborská is the scriptwriter and director of the highly popular children’s concerts in Series D of the Janáček Philharmonic, with which she has been involved from the very beginning. She also collaborates with the Ostrava orchestra as a workshop leader for children and for interactive concerts for schools, which are gaining ever greater popularity. She also leads courses for music teachers throughout the Czech Republic. She has taught at the Hlučín Primary Art School in the literary and dramatic department, at the Janáček Conservatoire in Ostrava, where she taught drama education and stage movement, and at the University of Ostrava, where she taught drama education and movement skills. She is the mother of four children.

Chuhei Iwasaki is one of the most sought after conductors of his generation. Since the 2021/2022 season, he has been chief conductor of the Pilsen Philharmonic, with which he regularly performs not only in subscription concerts in Pilsen but also on tours at home and abroad.

On the concert stage, he has led many other renowned Czech and international orchestras, including the Málaga Philharmonic Orchestra, the Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic in Łódź, the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, the PKF, Prague Philharmonia, the Brno Philharmonic, the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, the Košice State Philharmonic, the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Hyogo PAC Orchestra and others.

His recordings for Czech Radio and on CD are also significant. For the ARS Produktion label, he recorded a CD featuring works by Akira Ifukube, Leoš Janáček and Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari; these recordings were nominated for the Opus Klassik Award. His list of recordings for Czech Radio includes works spanning many stylistic periods. They include, for example, the complete symphonies of J. V. Tomášek, the rarely performed symphony by Jan Kubelík, Dvořák’s Carnival, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Rodion Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite. He is also deeply committed to recording works by 20th century and contemporary composers.

He was born in Tokyo and studied violin at the Toho Gakuen Conservatory there, before going on to study composition and conducting at the Prague Conservatoire. He has been actively devoted to conducting since 2012 and further refined his skills at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.