Vondráček & Rachmaninov

A musical fresco between Mussorgsky's fantasy and Rachmaninoff's emotional depth. Lukáš Vondráček, the most prominent pianist of today, and the PRSO conducted by Tomáš Brauner in a dialogue between piano and orchestra at the peak of romantic expressiveness.

For the first time in Český Krumlov, Lukáš Vondráček, one of today's most outstanding pianists, will sit down at the piano. An artist whose playing combines passion with deep calm and power with gentleness. Together with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tomáš Brauner, he invites listeners on a journey through the world of romantic music, from the birth of emotions to their fading away. The evening will open with the world premiere of Labyrinth by Ondřej Brousek, a composition written for the 35th edition of the festival. This will be followed by Rachmaninov's iconic Piano Concerto No. 2, one of the most famous works of the Romantic era, performed by Lukáš Vondráček, winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition and a regular guest of world orchestras. After the intermission, the concert will culminate with Maurice Ravel's orchestral version of Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, a colorful mosaic of sounds in which each tone transforms into an image and each image into an emotionally pulsating dream. This concert is part of the Opening Festival Package, which includes three following concerts:

- - - A Thousand and One Nights / Shéhérazade , 17.7. 21:00, Summer Riding Hall Český Krumlov
    - Vondráček & Rachmaninov, 18.7. 20:30, Summer Riding Hall Český Krumlov
    - Hejl & St. Wenceslas Chorale , 19.7. 20:00, St. Nicolas Church in Boletice

The festival package includes top-category tickets with a 20% discount and access to special offers from festival partners. Available until the end of 2025 or while supplies last.

Artists

Lukáš Vondráček - piano

Tomáš Brauner - conductor

SOČR

Program

Ondřej Brousek: Labyrint (world premiere)

Sergei Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, op. 18

----intermission----

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky/Maurice Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition

Lukáš Vondráček

Lukáš Vondráček, winner of the Grand Prix at the Queen Elisabeth International Piano Competition in Brussels in 2016, is one of the most important Czech pianists of his generation. He has performed with leading orchestras around the world, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, and London Symphony Orchestra, and has collaborated with conductors such as Jakub Hrůša, Marin Alsop, Paavo Järvi, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He has given recitals at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and at festivals in Gstaad, Edinburgh, and Prague Spring. In the 2025/26 season, he will perform with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Elima Chan, with the Belgian National Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, NOSPR, and West Australian Symphony Orchestra, where he will perform Beethoven’s complete piano concertos, and return to Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall. He made his piano debut at the age of four and performed with the Czech Philharmonic and Vladimir Ashkenazy at the age of fifteen. He graduated with honors from the New England Conservatory in Boston.

Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

The Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra (SOČR) ranks among the most prominent Czech orchestras of today. Since the 2022/2023 season, the position of Chief Conductor and Artistic Director has been held by the Czech conductor Petr Popelka, while Robert Jindra serves as Principal Guest Conductor.

In 2026, the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra will celebrate the centenary of its founding. The jubilee season will open under the leadership of its new Chief Conductor, Elias Grandy. From September 2026, the orchestra’s subscription concerts will feature collaborations with distinguished conductors such as Petr Popelka, Jakub Hrůša, Václav Luks, Tomáš Netopil, and Cornelius Meister. In Prague, the orchestra will perform not only at the Rudolfinum and the Municipal House, but also at the Spanish Hall of Prague Castle and the more intimate setting of the Bethlehem Chapel.

The orchestra has worked with many leading Czech and international conductors. Among the soloists it has accompanied are pianist Krystian Zimerman, violinists Leila Josefowicz and Pierre Amoyal, cellists Gautier Capuçon, István Várdai, and Steven Isserlis, trombonist Christian Lindberg, as well as jazz musician Avishai Cohen. Vocal soloists have included Renée Fleming, Elīna Garanča, Asmik Grigorian, José Cura, Juan Diego Flórez, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and Jonas Kaufmann.

Tomáš Brauner

Chief Conductor of the Capital City Symphony Orchestra and from the 2024/2025 season also chief conductor of the Slovak National Theatre Opera in Bratislava graduated in oboe and conducting at the State Conservatory in Prague and in conducting at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts. He regularly collaborates with the Czech Philharmonic, Prague Philharmonia, Müncher Symphoniker, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie and many others. He is also an opera conductor and at the State Opera, the National Theatre and the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre he has conducted Puccini’s La Bohème and Tosca, Verdi’s Otello, Nabucco and Traviata, Bizet’s Carmen and many others. He is a frequent guest of international music festivals such as Bad Kissingen and the Richard Strauss Festival in Garmisch Parten-Kirchen, and in 2022 he made his debut in the Elbe Philharmonic in Hamburg.

Ondřej Brousek

Ondřej comes from a family of actors and grew up in an artistic environment from childhood. He began playing the piano at the age of five, and after studying acting at the Prague Conservatory, he devoted himself to film and music. Since 1999, he has been a member of the band Monkey Business, with which he has collaborated with personalities such as Joan Baez, Glenn Hughes, and Fred Wesley.
In the theater, he has arranged and orchestrated famous musicals (My Fair Lady, Funny Girl) and composed over eighty stage works, including six original musicals. He also composes concert pieces – three symphonies, Sinfonietta, Concerto for Orchestra, Golden Age Rhapsody, and the ballet Kytice. He collaborates with leading Czech and foreign orchestras (Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, Yamagata Symphony Orchestra) and artists such as Radek Baborák, Adam Plachetka, and Pavel Šporcl. He has twice won the Thalia Award for his work in radio and combines music with acting and literature.