Inaugural Concert of Petr Popelka • Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

For his inaugural concert, Petr Popelka, the new chief conductor of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, invited one of the finest instrumentalists of our time, Frank Peter Zimmermann. The German violinist, who performs with orchestras such as the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, will play the Violin Concerto in D major by the German Romantic composer Johannes Brahms on an instrument made by the legendary Antonio Stradivari. For the second half of the evening, Petr Popelka has chosen Arnold Schoenberg's monumental symphonic poem Pelleas and Melisande. The late romantic work, based on the play of the same name by the Belgian symbolist Maurice Maeterlinck, was premiered by Schönberg as conductor in Vienna in 1905 and later presented by him to the Prague audience.