P3 / New Year’s Concert ⬩ Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

Welcome the New Year with sparkling, dance-infused music from the Baroque and Classical eras. Under the baton of Václav Luks, the programme opens with Symphonie du festin royal de Monseigneur le comte d’Artois – a French suite of marches, minuets, and energetic closing movements full of rhythmic vitality. Mozart’s concert aria Bella mia fiamma, addio offers a soprano solo in shifting tempi, from lyrical andante to stormy passages that allow the Ukrainian-German soprano Kateryna Kasper to display both the dramatic power and the technical brilliance of her voice.

Haydn’s cantata Berenice, che fai? is characterised by striking contrasts between lyrical, songful passages and dramatic, emotionally charged entries that capture the inner turmoil and despair of Queen Berenice. The programme concludes with the ballet music from Mozart’s opera Idomeneo – dance-like movements inspired by the French ballet tradition that bring the evening to an energetic and festive close.

Václav Luks is a leading Czech conductor specialising in historically informed performance. He studied the French horn at the Plzeň Conservatory and at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, before continuing his studies in harpsichord and historical performance at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland. He is the founder of the ensembles Collegium 1704 and Collegium Vocale 1704, with which he performs at prestigious European festivals and in the foremost concert halls. His recordings and concert projects have received numerous international awards and critical acclaim.

The Ukrainian soprano Kateryna Kasper studied singing at the Prokofiev Music Academy in Donetsk and later at the Hochschule für Musik in Nuremberg and Frankfurt am Main. A laureate of several international singing competitions, she appears at major European opera houses and festivals. She collaborates regularly, for example, with Oper Frankfurt and with many distinguished conductors and orchestras.