Programme
Programme TBA
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Czech Philharmonic • Open Air Concert
It is tradition for the Czech Philharmonic to end its season with a free Open-Air Concert on Hradčany Square. Leading the Orchestra this year is the inspiring American conductor, James Gaffigan. He has planned a concert full of energy and dance, best described by the Greek word “dynamis” meaning “power” or “motion”. As a young boy, Gaffigan dreamt of being a rock star.
Performers
James Gaffigan conductor
Other performers TBA
Czech Philharmonic
Prague — Hradčany Square
Free entry
Tickets and contact information
Reservation of seats for current subscribers:
until 3 June 2024, 20.00
Sale of individual tickets for subscription concerts:
from 10 June 2024, 10.00
Ticket sales for all public dress rehearsals:
from 11 September 2024, 10.00
Customer Service of Czech Philharmonic
Tel.: +420 227 059 227
E-mail: info@czechphilharmonic.cz
Customer service is available on weekdays from 9.00 am to 6.00 pm.
“What I love most in the world is to perform music and to bring people together. And the conducting profession lets me do both”, said James Gaffigan, current Music Director of Berlin’s Komische Oper and of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia. A native of New York City, James Gaffigan paradoxically became a conductor by chance.
He got his start as a guitar player and wanted to be a rock star. But then aged 14, he traded guitar for bassoon and ultimately turned to classical music because he could hardly hope to play bassoon in a rock band. At one student orchestra rehearsal, the conductor asked him to try leading the orchestra, and from that moment, conducting became Gaffigan’s life’s passion. What became good luck for classical music lovers came at the expense of fans of more “hard-core” genres.
Gaffigan has won extraordinary renown with orchestras around the world not only for his openness and outgoing personality, but also for the natural ease with which he engages with the musicians he works with. He is often welcomed by orchestras in the United States and in Europe in highly diverse repertoire including contemporary music.
Performers
James Gaffigan conductor
“I like to bring people together, my favourite things in life are people and music. If I could do both in one profession, well, that is conducting,” says the conductor James Gaffigan, currently music director of the Komische Oper Berlin and the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia. Born in New York City, he initially played the piano and the guitar, focusing on jazz and rock. At the age of 14, he also took up the clarinet and the bassoon, which he would later play in a student orchestra. Alongside a great passion for rock, James developed a fondness for classical music. Wishing to become a conductor, during a rehearsal he was afforded the first opportunity to try it out – and he immediately fell in love with leading an orchestra. He studied at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and the Shepherd School of Music in Houston. After stints as assistant to Michael Tilson Thomas at the San Francisco Symphony and Franz Welser-Möst at the Cleveland Orchestra, he was invited to guest with the Luzerner Symphonieorchester, which soon offered him the position of chief conductor. A significant milestone in his career was victory in the Sir Georg Solti International Conductors’ Competition in Frankfurt in 2004.
Today, James Garrigan is a sought-after conductor, popular among orchestras worldwide for being collaborative and open-minded, and for possessing a natural levity. He is regularly engaged in the USA (New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, etc.), as well as in Europe (London Symphony Orchestra, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, Orchestre de Paris, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, etc.), performing a diverse repertoire. A great champion of contemporary music, Gaffigan has given world premieres of a number of pieces, including John Adams’s Tromba Lontana. He also conducted the Wiener Philharmoniker presenting in Austrian premiere Miroslav Srnka’s No Night, No Land, No Sky, at the Bregenzer Festspiele in 2015.
Over Gaffigan’s ten-year-tenure as principal conductor, the Luzerner Symphonieorchester gained great international renown within tours worldwide and made numerous acclaimed recordings. For some time, he was chief visiting conductor in the Netherlands and Norway. He currently serves as music director of the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra, working with highly gifted musicians aged between 15 and 18. His placing emphasis on music education of children and young people is also attested to by the project he has initiated as music director of the Komische Oper Berlin. An ardent fan of opera, James Gaffigan has regularly conducted productions at the Met in New York, the Bayerische Staatsoper and the Opéra national de Paris.
