Ivo Kahánek and his students

What does Vltava sound like on a four-hand piano? And what about the overture to The Bartered Bride when it’s played on two pianos by four pianists using eight hands? You’ll find out at the festival concert marking the 200th anniversary of Bedřich Smetana’s birth, to which leading Czech pianist Ivo Kahánek invited three of his best pupils. The outright winner of the Prague Spring International Music Competition 2004 has performed at the famous BBC Proms in London and with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle. After Rudolf Firkušný, Kahánek became only the second Czech pianist to appear with this distinguished orchestra. In the first half of the concert he will perform the dramatic sketch Macbeth and the Witches, in which Smetana was inspired by a scene from the classic Shakespeare play, and the poetic and virtuosic cycle Dreams. In the second half Ivo Kahánek will be joined by his pupils Anna Gaálová and Pavol Praženica, prize-winners at the Smetana International Piano Competition in Plzeň, and Matouš Zukal, 2nd prize-winner of the Prague Spring International Music Competition; together they will perform stunning arrangements of Smetana’s fêted orchestral works.