St. Vitus Organ Evenings
13th International Organ Festival in St. Vitus Cathedral
2. 7. — 30. 7. 2024
The Festival
The Metropolitan Chapter of St. Vitus in Prague is this year organising the thirtheenth year of the now traditional international festival St. Vitus Organ Evenings in the St. Vitus, Wenceslas and Adalbert Cathedral at Prague Castle in collaboration with the Prague Castle Administration.
This year's festival will offer the audience unique experiences of performances by outstanding artists in the enchanting surroundings of the majestic St. Vitus Cathedral.
The first to sound the cathedral organ will be an extraordinary personality of organ art - the organist of the St. Clotilde Basilica in Paris, Olivier Penin. This star of his field will present a programme of works by two giants of organ literature, Johann Sebastian Bach and César Franck.
Organist Adam Viktora is well known to the cultural community as conductor and artistic director of Ensemble Inégal. On the second of the festival evenings, however, he will address the audience with a solo performance, presenting music from J. S. Bach to Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy to the virtuosic B. A. Wiedermann.
The magic of French music will completely dominate the evening, performed by Maria Pochopova. This representative of the younger generation with a strong musical sense will play a palette of colourful harmonies of two giants of 20th century French music - Maurice Duruflé and Jehan Alain.
The young Slovak organist, Štefan Iľaš, dedicates the fourth concert to a varied repertoire. He will perform music from Austria, Germany, France and his homeland; from Romanticism to the hot contemporary; from mystical pieces to the spectacular.
Organist Jan Doležel and trumpeter Stanislav Masaryk will end the festival with one of the most beautiful combinations of musical instruments. Alongside stunning Baroque works for trumpet, organ music by Janáček, Reger and Franck will fill St. Vitus Cathedral. A Czech organist based in Erlangen, Germany, and a Slovak trumpeter playing in the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra will create a festive end to this year's festival.
Festival programme
Concerts begin at 7.00 p.m.
Tickets available: GoOut, Ticketportal, Via Musica, Information Centre, Prague Castle 3rd Courtyard.
Olivier Penin – organ
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
- Pièce d'Orgue (Fantasie G dur) BWV 572
- „Ježíš zůstává moje radost“ chorál z kantáty č.147
César Franck (1822-1890)
- Preludium, fuga a variace
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
- Toccata a fuga d moll BWV 565
- „Herzlich tut mich verlangen“ chor.předehra BWV 727
César Franck (1822-1890)
- Chorál č. 3 a moll
Adam Viktora – varhany
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
- Fantasia G dur BWV 572
- Erbarm dich mein, O Herre Gott, BWV 721
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
- Fuga z cyklu Šest fug na B A C H op.60
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847)
- Preludium a fuga e moll op.35 č.1, varhanní transkripce Christoph Bossert
Bedřich Antonín Wiedermann (1883-1951)
- Notturno
- Impetuoso
Marie Pochopová – organ
Tomáš Šelc - sólo
Schola cantus gregoriani
Maurice Duruflé (1902–1986)
- Preludium, Adagio a chorál s variacemi na Veni Creator op.4
- Siciliana ze Suity op.5
- Mše Cum jubilo pro baryton sólo, jednohlasý mužský sbor a varhany op.11
- Preludium a fuga na jméno Alain op.7
Jehan Alain (1911-1940)
- Litanie
Štefan Il’as – organ
Franz Schmidt (1874-1939)
- Preludium a fuga D dur (Halleluja), ze Čtyř malých preludií
Max Reger (1873-1916)
- Canon-Gigue-Canzonetta-Scherzo (z Šesti trií op.47)
Samuel Hvozdík (nar. 1993)
- Magma
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
- Studie pro pedálový klavír op.56 (č.1,2,3,4)
César Franck (1822-1890)
- Priére (Modlitba)
Franz Schmidt (1874-1939)
- Toccata
Ondřej Valenta – organ, Stanislav Masaryk – trumpet
Notice
Due to health reasons, the program is subject to change. Instead of Jan Dolezel, Ondřej Valenta will perform with a modified programme.
Thank you for your understanding.
Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
- Preludium C dur, BuxWV 137
Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739)
- Koncert d moll pro hoboj a orchestr (Allegro-Adagio-Allegro)
Leoš Janáček (1854-1928)
- Skladby pro varhany (č. 1 Adagio, č. 2 Adagio)
Alexandre Guilmant (1837-1911)
- První sonáta (symfonie), d moll, op. 42 (Introduction et Allegro-Pastorale-Finale)
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
- Sonata de concert D dur (Moderato e grazioso-Largo-Vivace)
Artists
Olivier Penin
organ
OLIVIER PENIN was born in 1981. He comes from the town of Caen in Brittany and studied in Paris under David Noël-Hudson. In 2012, he was appointed titular organist of St. Clotilde et Sainte Valére in Paris, a church memorable for the lifelong work of César Franck and the superb organ built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. Penin’s extensive repertoire includes organ music from the 17th century to the present day. He focuses in particular on the work of his famous predecessor César Franck, having recorded his complete organ works on 3 CDs in 2022. He gives concerts all over the world and has performed in Germany, Belgium, Holland, Poland, Austria, Russia, Mexico and Japan. He often performs with orchestra and his repertoire includes Francis Poulenc’s Organ Concerto, Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No.3 the “Organ Symphony” and concertos by Handel. He has led international masterclasses in England, South Korea, Poland and Croatia.
Adam Viktora
organ
Adam Viktora studied organ at the Conservatory in Pilsen and at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He teaches organ at the Conservatory in Pilsen and Historically Informed Interpretation at the Faculty of Music at the Academy of Performing Arts. He is the artistic director and conductor of Ensemble Inégal and the Prague Baroque Soloists, with whom he performs throughout Europe and at major festivals (Utrecht, Bruges, London, Leipzig, Regensburg and Stockholm). He has been instrumental in rediscovery of the works of the Czech Baroque master Jan Dismas Zelenka, whose works he regularly performs and records on CD. He is also the founder of the Czech Organ Festival.
Marie Pochopová
organ
Marie Pochopová studied organ at the Prague Conservatory, the Faculty of Music at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and at the College of Catholic Church Music and Musical Education in Regensburg as part of an internship. She has participated in many international organ courses under the guidance of renowned teachers. In 2011, Pochopová won 2nd prize at the Bach Autumn Organ Competition in Brno and in 2016, 2nd prize at the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation Competition in the discipline harpsichord. She devotes her time to interpretation of early music and playing the harpsichord. She has been the organist at Charles University since 2013 and dramaturge of the musical projects of the Archbishopric of Prague since 2019.
Štefan Iľaš
organ
Štefan Iľaš studied organ at the Conservatory in Košice, at the German University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich and University of Music Saarland as well as taking part in a foreign study programme at the Higher Institute of Arts and Design in Toulouse. His teachers include Bernhard Haas, Michel Bouvard, Jan Willem Jansen, Bernadetta Šuňavská, Emilia Dzemjanová. He has attended masterclasses under the tutelage of Jon Laukvik, Jean Guillou, Daniel Roth, Jürgen Essel, Louis Robillard and others. He is the dramaturge of the International Organ Festival of Ivan Sokol. He regularly performs a wide variety of concerts at home and abroad.
Ondřej Valenta
organ
Ondřej Valenta is organist at St. Vitus Cathedral, a concert organist and teacher at the Prague Conservatory. He is also the titular organist and choirmaster at the Royal Collegiate Chapter at Vyšehrad in Prague, where he co-founded and artistically directs the international festival “Organ Vyšehrad”. He studied at the Academy of Performing Arts under Pavel Černý. This was preceded by studies in the organ department at Prague Conservatory with Jan Hora, where he also studied harpsichord with Ivana Bažantová and piano with Jana Macharáčková. He enhanced his education with a course of study at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg, at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich and regularly supplements his studies at masterclasses at home and abroad (in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Liechtenstein) under the guidance of leading experts. Besides his concert performances in the Czech Republic, he has also performed in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Austria and Poland. He has also published professional articles in his field.
Stanislav Masaryk
trumpet
Stanislav Masaryk was born in the Slovakian town of Gbely. He has been playing the trumpet since the age of nine and graduated from the Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. Masaryk won first prize at the competition in Košice and at the International Interpretative Competition for Wind Instruments Brno 2017 together with the title of absolute winner. He has worked as a trumpeter in Bratislava in the hot-jazz orchestra, in the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra and in the Orchestra of the Opera Ensemble at the Slovak National Theatre. He held the position of 1st trumpet for two years in the National Theatre Orchestra in Prague and has been a member of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in the same position since September 2020.
Organisers
Supporters
Under the auspices of
Petra Pavla,
President of the Czech Republic
Mons. Jan Graubner,
Archbishop of Prague
Mons Václav Malý, Provost of
the Metropolitan Chapter of St. Vitus in Prague
Contact
jan.bumbalek@kapitula.cz
+420 734 648 727
Metropolitní kapitula u sv. Víta v Praze
Hrad III. nádvoří 48/2
119 01 Praha 1 – Hradčany
Where to find us
Katedrála u sv. Víta, Vojtěcha a Václava
Hrad III. nádvoří 48/2
119 01 Praha 1 – Hradčany