Czech Philharmonic • Daniel Harding
John Williams makes references to poetry in his Horn Concerto, while Gustav Mahler set the texts of old Chinese poems directly to music in Das Lied von der Erde. This is ideal company for the singer Fleur Barron, a graduate of comparative literature studies who sees the propagation of diverse cultural influences and the merging of traditions as a long-term goal.
Programme
John Williams
Concerto for Horn and Orchestra (2003)
Gustav Mahler
Das Lied von der Erde, a symphony for tenor, alto, and orchestra
Performers
Radek Baborák French horn
Fleur Barron mezzo-soprano
Andrew Staples tenor
Daniel Harding conductor
Czech Philharmonic
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“When I’ve tried to analyse my lifelong love of the French horn, I’ve had to conclude that it’s mainly because of the horn’s capacity to stir memories of antiquity. The very sound of the French horn conjures images stored in the collective psyche”, says John Williams, explaining his love for the French horn. While writing the concerto, he was also at work on music for the third film in the Harry Potter series. The second movement also brings fantasy to mind; its title is based on a 14th-century Celtic poem: The Battle of the Trees.
Literature also played a part in the birth of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde. The composer had come into possession of the poetry collection Die chinesische Flöte (The Chinese Flute), translated into German by the poet Hans Bethge. Mahler began setting selected poems from the collection in 1907, during a difficult period when he was dealing with three blows of fate that came in quick succession. Under increasing pressure because of antisemitic attitudes, he resigned from his position as conductor of the Vienna Court Opera, his four-year-old daughter died, and he suffered a collapse, after which doctors diagnosed his defective heart valve.
“At one stroke I have lost all the clarity and reassurance that I ever achieved, and now at the end of life I must learn to stand and walk again as a beginner”, he wrote in a letter to his friend Bruno Walter about his feelings of loss and finitude, which are also present in his six-movement song cycle.
Joining tenor Andrew Staples for the performance is mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron, who returns to the Rudolfinum after having sung Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder in February 2026.
Performers
Radek Baborák french horn
The French horn player and conductor Radek Baborák is one of the most prominent classical music figures internationally. Since making his solo debut in 1989, he has been collaborating with the world’s leading orchestras, important soloists and ensembles, and top conductors. After having played principal French horn in orchestras for many years (with the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, and Czech Philharmonic) and having gained much experience in the field of chamber music and in the artistic leadership of ensembles (Baborák Ensemble — Orquestrina, Czech Horn Chorus, Afflatus Quintet), in 2008 he began devoting himself to a parallel career as a conductor in the tradition of instrumentalists who have chosen to realise their artistic visions and dreams by conducting their own performances. Baborák’s main mentor and model in this has been Maestro Daniel Barenboim, whom Baborák has assisted with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Baborák has also played as a soloist under Barenboim’s baton, taken part in Boulez Ensemble chamber music projects, and taught as a professor at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin.
The initial impulse for Baborák stepping onto the conductor’s podium was an invitation from the musicians of the Mito Chamber Orchestra to stand in for their indisposed chief conductor, Maestro Seiji Ozawa, during a tour of Europe in 2008. Baborák became Ozawa’s pupil, and their work together climaxed at the jubilee 100th concert of the MCO, at which Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was heard—Radek Baborák conducted the first two movements, and Seiji Ozawa conducted the third movement and finale.
In 2011 Baborák took the initiative in founding the Czech Sinfonietta, a festival orchestra that he conducts. He is also the chief conductor and since 2013 the artistic director of the Prague Chamber Soloists. In 2017 he was appointed as chief guest conductor of the Yamagata Symphony Orchestra. Radek Baborák’s repertoire includes music of the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras as well as works by composers of the 20th and 21st centuries including Na'ama Tamir Kaplan, Toshio Hosokawa, John Adams, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Antti Sakari Saario. He has given the world premieres of works by Jean-Gaspard Páleníček, Lukáš Hurník and Aleš Březina and of his own compositions. In 2021 he became the chief conductor of the West-Bohemian Symphony Orchestra.
Fleur Barron mezzo-soprano
“I think I’m drawn to these types of projects—ones that are meaty and have something to say, that
are not just musically beautiful and engaging but also somehow related to what life is about today”,
says mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron, referring to, among other things, the opera Adriana Mater by Kaija
Saariaho; her performance of the lead role in that work recently earned her a Grammy. The singer of
Singaporean and British origin, whose mentor has been Barbara Hannigan for many years, is now
dividing her career between opera, concert appearances, and chamber or solo recitals. Rather then
simply a means of conveying beauty, music for her is also a medium with possibilities for a far greater
reach, as is shown by some of her projects aimed at bringing divergent cultures together.
She grew up in a very culturally diverse environment. Born in Northern Ireland, she spent most of her
childhood in Hong Kong. She moved to New York with her parents while in her teens, and there she
was thrilled by a show on Broadway. Back then, she thought opera was “boring”, but she changed
her opinion after she began joining her classmates to attend Metropolitan Opera performances with
student tickets. After earning a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature at Columbia University,
she began to look into serious vocal studies, and the result was a master’s degree from the
Manhattan School of Music. Getting started was not easy, however: “My masters was very tough for
my ego because I was way behind the curve compared to everybody else, and that was a challenge”,
she said. “I was used to being good at things, and suddenly I felt way behind. Unlike most things
where you feel behind, you can just work harder and you get better. With singing it’s really not like
that because the harder I tried, the more tense I would get. So it was a long journey.”
In the end, however, the long journey was successful, and we now find Fleur Barron appearing with
the world’s top orchestras (Berlin Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony
Orchestra etc.) and leading conductors (Esa-Pekka Salonen, Daniel Harding, Kent Nagano, Nathalie
Stutzmann, and Kirill Petrenko); as part of a concert tour, she made her debut with the Czech
Philharmonic and its chief conductor Semyon Bychkov. Recently, she has been seen frequently on
stage in the Mahler repertoire, but music of the 20th and 21st centuries is no exception, for example,
and her operatic repertoire reaches as far back as the Baroque period (e.g. Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno
dʼUlisse in Patria). At recitals, she is most frequently accompanied by Julius Drake (for example, in
the 2024/2025 season they appeared together at London’s Wigmore Hall and in Amsterdam,
Stuttgart, and Madrid), but she recently gave her Carnegie Hall debut with the pianist Kunal Lahiry,
with whom she undertook a whole American tour. She is also an artistic partner of the Orquesta
Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias in Oviedo, Spain.
Alongside her performing career, she also gives many masterclasses each year, for example at
Harvard, the Manhattan School of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, and London’s King’s College.
Andrew Staples tenor
Andrew Staples is considered one of the most versatile tenors of his generation, appearing regularly with Sir Simon Rattle, Daniel Harding, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, with the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, London Symphony Orchestra.
He made his debut at the Royal Opera House with Fidelio (Jacquino), returning with Katya Kabanova (Tichon) and Salome (Narraboth). His recent and future performances include, Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (Chamber Orchestra of Europe), Britten: Peter Grimes (Teatro La Fenice), Turn of the Screw (Budapest Festival Orchestra), Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius (Royal Scottish National Orchestra), Haydn: The Creation (Scottish Chamber Orchestra), Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette (Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France), Handel: Jephtha (Komische Oper Berlin), Mozart: Idomeneo (Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin).
His creative output includes concert and opera singing, directing opera, filmmaking and photography.
Daniel Harding conductor
Daniel Harding is the Music and Artistic Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He was Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris from 2016–2019 and Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from 2007–2017. He is honoured with the lifetime title of Conductor Laureate of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, with whom he has worked for over 20 years. In 2020, he was named Conductor in Residence of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande for the 2021–2022 and 2022–2023 seasons. In 2024 he will take up the position of Music Director of the Youth Music Culture The Greater Bay Area (YMCG, China) for a five-year term. He is a regular visitor of the most prestigious opera houses, such as La Scala, Royal Opera House/Covent Garden, Bayerische Staatsoper or Wiener Staatsoper.
His Mahler and Orff recordings for Deutsche Grammophon with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks both received widespread critical acclaim. For Virgin/EMI he has recorded Mahler’s and Brahms’ symphonies; Billy Budd with London Symphony Orchestra (a winner of a Grammy Award for best opera recording); Don Giovanni and The Turn of the Screw with Mahler Chamber Orchestra (Choc de lʼAnnée 2002, the Grand Prix de lʼAcadémie Charles Cros and a Gramophone award); works by Lutosławski and Britten (Choc de LʼAnnée 1998). A regular collaborator with Harmonia Mundi, his latest recordings with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra include “The Wagner Project” with Matthias Goerne; Mahler Symphonies no. 5 & 9, Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem and a newly released Britten disc.
The 2022/2023 season sees Daniel embark on major tours with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra; he also appears with the Berliner Philharmoniker in Berlin and Baden-Baden. He makes debuts with the Cleveland Orchestra and Czech Philharmonic Orchestra as well as returning to the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Filarmonica della Scala, Dresden Staatskapelle and to the Wiener Staatsoper for Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci.
In 2002 Daniel was awarded the title Chevalier de lʼOrdre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government. In 2012, he was elected a member of The Royal Swedish Academy of Music. In 2021, he was awarded a CBE in the New Year Honours. He is a qualified airline pilot.