Czech Philharmonic ⬩ Keith Lockhart

Orchestra of the Year 2022

The Czech Philharmonic is among the ten ensembles nominated for the prestigious Gramophone Classical Music Awards alongside colleagues from Vienna, Oslo and London. The winner of the award will be decided by a public vote, which you can also take part in.

Vote for your favourite orchestra here.

About the programme

Smetana, Dvořák, and great Czech musicians of the generations that followed them created a national school of composition with a clear identity. They set about doing this deliberately, but it was never obvious how they should proceed. For decades, there were heated debates over the influence of foreign music (especially Liszt and Wagner) and over how (if at all) Czech folk music should be incorporated into music for the concert hall.

When Dvořák spent a few years teaching composition in the USA in the early 1890s, American composers were also on the path of discovery of a national school. Dvořák was fascinated by the music of the African Americans and Native Americans he encountered during his stay in America, and he predicted that their music pointed the way to a uniquely American style.

Tonight we will hear four distinctive voices speaking with an American accent: Dvořák, with his European perspective, and three native sons of the USA, all born around the year 1900: Gershwin, Copland, and Ellington.