“Let the 19th edition of this wonderful festival begin.” A magical sentence from Pavel Šporcl, much anticipated by many!
Just a few hours after the 29th Heran Cello Competition ended, the opening concert of the 19th edition of Kocianovo Ústí followed seamlessly. The violin and the cello met in style in the person of top Czech performer Jiří Bárta. The audience from Ústí already knows him well, as he performed at the Roškot Theatre seven years ago. Now, he was accompanied by Filharmonia Sudecka from Wałbrzych, Poland. Cello Concerto No. 1 was not chosen by chance. “I would like to spark a certain tradition with the opening concert, namely cooperation between Czech and Polish artists. That’s why I invited Filharmonia Sudecka,” said the festival’s creative director, who welcomed the audience on Saturday.
At the same time, he invited those present to this year’s 66th Kocian Violin Competition, which will be held in the concert hall of the local music school. The 1986 Kocianka laureate would like to meet us all, not only during concerts. “I warmly invite you to come and listen to some of the competition performances. I expect that, as in previous years, they will be world-class,” says the chairman of the jury.
This week is going to be busy. Sixty violinists will perform in four categories, and the festival programme is also first-class. “We are celebrating the bicentenary of Bedřich Smetana, the Pardubice Philharmonic Orchestra with last year’s laureate Milan Kostelenec is coming, and the Friday concert in this theatre will feature some real rock,” said the programme’s dramaturg.
The Polish orchestra, led by charismatic conductor Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny, impressed the audience already with the opening piece Orawa by the contemporary Polish composer Wojciech Kilar. Bárta’s precise performance of Haydn’s concerto was rewarded with thunderous applause, after which the soloist returned the favour with an encore – Bach’s Prelude. The sympathetic Polish orchestra and its conductor left an excellent impression in Ústí nad Orlicí.