Hope III. - 8. 3. 2023, 19.30
Mirror Chapel Klementina
Piano recital
Benefit concert
Ivo Kahánek – piano
You can donate on site or online at the Donio.cz portal: https://www.donio.cz/alzheimer-home-pitkovice
As part of the 6th year of the Eternal Hope festival, pianist Ivo Kahánek will perform on March 8 in the Mirror Chapel of Prague's Klementin. The benefit recital for seriously ill patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease is the result of a partnership between the Eternal Hope Festival, the Stadler-Trier Foundation, the National Library of the Czech Republic, Charity Czech Republic and Alzheimer Home Pitkovice.
Program:
Gideon Klein - Piano Sonata No. 1 (1943)
Franz Schubert – Impromptus for Piano D. 899, Op. 90 (selection)
Pavel Haas – Suite for piano, op. 13
Béla Bartók – Piano Sonata, Sz. 80
Ivo Kahánek's piano recital program gradually matured over two years. It was Kahánek who recorded Gideon Klein's Piano Sonata on his debut album. By the way, it was the same sonata with which he competed at the International Music Competition for the Prague Spring Prize, of which he became the winner in 2004. A recital by one of our most sought-after pianists is tailor-made for our dramaturgical line. The basis of the program is based on the fusion of Terezin authors Gideon Klein and Pavel Haas together with one of the main representatives of early romanticism, Franz Schubert. The seemingly incongruous Béla Bartók with both musical groups is the imaginary cherry on the cake of the Eternal Hope benefit concert. Bartók, like Klein and Haas, was confronted with a homeland permeated by fascism, which resulted in his emigration to the USA. This imaginary parallel between one of the main representatives of 20th-century music and the Terezin composers forms an uncompromising program that points to the sheer greatness of the 20th-century composers in confrontation with the tender and pensive music of Franz Schubert. Kahánek is a double winner of the Anděl Prize in the Classical Music category and winner of the Classic Prague Awards.
A charity performance by the three violinists Matteo Hager, David Hernych and Marek Pavlica will take place at the Alzheimer Home Pitkovice on April 12 in cooperation with the Stadler-Trier Foundation, which supports exceptionally gifted young classical music talents in a variety of ways. These include musicians who will perform together at a concert for the joy of clients long-term hospitalized at the Alzheimer Home in Pitkovice.
"I would like to emphasize that music is like a balm for clients with Alzheimer's disease or another type of dementia. Music therapy is like communication support for our clients. Often some clients with a speech disorder respond to music by remembering the words they sing to themselves. It's so beautiful to see them so happy," says director of the Alzheimer Home Pitkovice, Marcela Slowiková.
Alzheimer Home Pitkovice specializes in comprehensive care for the elderly and patients with Alzheimer's disease and other diseases causing dementia, including Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Ivo Kahánek - biography
As a performer of extraordinary emotional strength and depth, Ivo Kahánek has earned a reputation as one of the most impressive artists of his generation. He can make good use of his gift of immediately establishing an emotional connection with the audience in compositions from baroque to modern, with a focus on the romantic repertoire. Abroad, he is also considered a specialist in the interpretation of Czech music.
In 2004, he became the absolute winner of the international music competition Prague Spring and had already won awards in many important competitions here and abroad (Maria Canals Piano Competition in Barcelona, Vendome Prize in Vienna, Stiftung Tomassoni Wettbewerb in Cologne, Fryderyk International Competition Chopin in Mariánské Lázně, Concertino Praga, etc.).
After successful debuts at the Beethovenfest in Bonn and the Prague Spring, he received an invitation from the BBC Symphony Orchestra to perform at the BBC Proms festival in London's Royal Albert Hall. There in August 2007, under the baton of Jiří Bělohlávek, he performed Bohuslav Martinů's Piano Concerto No. 4 Incantation, which was broadcast live on BBC television and radio as well as the Czech Vltava station. This critically acclaimed debut is available as a digital download from German label Deutsche Grammophon. It is not surprising that Ivo Kahánek chose Sir Simon Rattle for two performances with the Berlin Philharmonic in November 2014. This was followed by an enthusiastic response from professional critics and the general public. The young pianist became only the second Czech pianist in history, after Rudolf Firkušný, to perform with this world-famous ensemble. In addition, Ivo Kahánek collaborates regularly with the Czech Philharmonic and has had successful performances with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Wiener Symphoniker, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Glasgow, the Essener Philharmonic, the WDR Cologne Orchestra, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the Capital City of Prague FOK, the Symphony Orchestra the Czech Radio Orchestra, the Prague Chamber Philharmonic, the Brno Philharmonic and many others. Among the other important artists with whom he collaborated, let us name at least the conductors Semjon Byčkov, John Eliot Gardiner, Jakub Hrůša, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Rafael Payare, Pinchas Steinberg, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Tomáš Netopil, Andrej Borejko, Libor Pešek or Zdenek Mácal, violinist Daniel Hope, cellist Alissa Weilerstein, violist Paul Neubauer, Pavel Haas Quartet, Tetzlaff Quartet, soprano Martina Janková and tenor Pavel Černoch. In 2018, he won the Classic Prague Award for solo performance of the year.
In 2007, Ivo Kahánek signed an exclusive contract with the publishing house Supraphon Music and since then he has recorded a total of fifteen CDs with works by Fryderyk Chopin, Antonín Dvořák, Leoš Janáček, Bohuslav Martinů, Gideon Klein, Miloslav Kabeláč, Jean Francaix, Jacques Ibert and others. concerts by Antonín Dvořák and Bohuslav Martinů accompanied by the Bamberger Symphoniker under the baton of Jakub Hrůš won the prestigious BBC Music Magazine Award and this CD also received other important awards - BBC Music Magazine Record of the Month, Choix de Classique HD, BBC Radio 3 Record of the Week, Angel Award in category Classics and was also nominated for an international ICMA award. For the album Písní Bohuslav Martinů with Martina Janková and Tomáš Král, Ivo is also the holder of the prized Golden Tuner (Diapason d'Or of the French specialist magazine Diapason) and selections of the month in Opernwelt and Opera News magazines. His most recent significant recording effort is the recording of Antonín Dvořák's complete piano works on 4 CDs, which was also nominated for the ICMA at the end of 2021, received the highest ratings in Gramophone and Diapason magazines and, like the previous record, won the Anděl Award in the Classical category. In addition, he films for Czech Radio, Czech Television and the Mezzo station.
Ivo Kahánek is a graduate of the Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He also completed a study internship at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama and master classes under Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Christian Zacharias, Alicia de Larroch, Imogen Cooper, Peter Frankl and other personalities. He currently works as a docent at the Faculty of Music and Dance of the AMU in Prague and leads piano masterclasses within the framework of the Summer Music Academy in Kromeriz and the Piano Courses of the Prague Conservatory.
