Bamberg & Hrusa & Kopatchinskaja: Palau de la Música Catalana

About the Event

Travel back in time and hear Symphony No. 9 'From the New World' and other works by Dvořák, Pärt and Stravinsky in Barcelona's impressive Palau de la Música Catalana.

With this concert, Czech conductor Jakub Hrusa makes his debut with one of the most important German orchestras, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, performing one of the world's most performed works by a living composer, Arvo Part's Berlin Mass.
Patricia Kopaczynska, one of the most outstanding violinists of our time, brings her interpretation of Stravinsky's Violin Concerto.
An opportunity to enjoy one of the most popular symphonies of all time: Dvořák's Symphony of the New World.

Antonín Dvořák

Antonin Dvorak is considered to be one of the most well‐known and prominent Czechs in the world, as his musical work gained international recognition already during his lifetime. He was born in 1841 in a small Czech village into a butcher’s family. At the age of 6, Dvorak started taking violin lessons and it immediately became obvious that the boy had exceptional talent in music. Later in life, he was learning to master piano and organ as well as simultaneously working in a slaughterhouse. After Dvorak turned 16, he was admitted to the Organ School in Prague that trained future professional composers. After graduating, he stayed in Prague, joined Karel Komzak’s orchestra and started actively composing his own music. However, he struggled to make ends meet and always had to work on the side by playing music in churches and giving private music lessons.
Finally, 1874 became a turning point in his life when he won a financial grant from an Austrian Prize competition for his 15 submitted works. This allowed him to quit the orchestra and devote himself fully to composing. During this period, he wrote his Slavonic Dances, Moravian Duets and Violin Concerto, which brought him sweeping success. In 1892 he was invited to teach at the New York National Conservatory, where he stayed until 1895 before returning home. He started teaching at the Prague conservatory and later became its director. Until his death in 1904, he had been a successful and well‐loved composer, both in his homeland and around the whole world.