Concert at Talich’s Beroun 2023

Once again after a year, conducting courses were held in Beroun at the Plzeňka Cultural House under the direction of Václav Blahunek, chief conductor of the Prague Castle Guard Music and the Police of the Czech Republic. Beginner conductors from all over the country practiced conducting a wind quintet composed of players from the Czech National Concert Band.

The intensive courses culminated in an evening concert of the entire NDO, where two participants of the workshop, in addition to the chief conductor Václav Blahunk, performed as conductors. Lucie Rapčáková, hornist of the National Wind Orchestra, concluded the workshop by conducting two pieces – Slavonic Dance No. 2 by Antonín Dvořák and Deep Space Voyage by J.A. Stanley. She was followed by Markéta Linhart, who not only leads the wind quintet and is the first flutist of the NDO, but also conducted three movements of Pavel Stanek’s Czech Dance Suite. Both ladies succeeded in leading the orchestra. “It was great! With such an orchestra conducting feels almost too easy. It’s great to be able to trust in each player and know that they will play everything I show them with the baton. And sometimes even what I don’t show (laughs). They supported me, and the whole experience was amazing mostly because of them. Thank you.” said Markéta after the concert.

Barbora Ticháčková was the soloist of the evening. She has successfully participated in national and international competitions with her trumpet playing. She is a finalist of the Golden Peanut TV talent competition and a semifinalist of the international competition of the Czech Radio Concertino Praga, a multiple winner of the international performance competition Žestě Brno, the international competition Pro Bohemia in Ostrava and the absolute winner of the Pardubice Conservatory Competition 2022. In Beroun she performed the very difficult trumpet concert by armenian composer A.G. Arutiunian.

In addition to these compositions, Ceremony by the Czech-born composer Václav Nelhýbel, La Quintessenza for Wind Orchestra by the contemporary Dutch composer and conductor Johan de Meij were also performed and the end belonged to Joseph Horovitz and his three-movement composition with jazz elements Bacchus on Blue Ridge.

The successful concert was a great opening of the new musical season for the National Wind Orchestra, the highlight of which will be the Pardubice Spring, when they will perform under the baton of Stanislav Vavřínek with the Austrian trumpet player Selina Ott.

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