Reviews

On May 23 and 24, 2025, the Prague Philharmonic Choir presented choral works by Antonín Dvořák, Bohuslav Martinů, and Petr Eben to the Swiss audience. Journalist Zita Senková from Czech Radio wrote a report on the second-to-last foreign tour for the platform Klasika Plus.

A review of the Dvořák Festival, written by Roman Kühne, was published in the daily Luzerner Zeitung.

14 February 2025, Opera+, Svatava Barančicová

The Czech Philharmonic performed Honegger’s oratorio Joan of Arc at the Stake on 13 February 2025. There are not many opportunities to hear a live performance of this dramatic work, because of its difficult staging and casting with the many soloists, singer and reciters and two choirs – a mixed and children’s choir. Moreover, we had the opportunity to hear it in the Rudolfinum just how it was written by poet Paul Claudel – purely in French.

14 February 2025, Klasika+, Jan Sebastian Tomsa

On 13 February the audience in Prague’s Rudolfinum bore witness to an absolutely extraordinary artistic event when the Czech Philharmonic performed the famous oratorio of Joan of Arc at the Stake by Swiss composer Arthur Honegger at its subscription concert. The main role of the work, which is rarely staged because of its artistic and operational complexity, was played by the renowned French actress, Audrey Bonnet. The entire composition was produced and conducted by Lukáš Vasilek and was also his debut performing with the Czech Philharmonic.

A contemporary reprise offered a vivid reminder that Honegger’s mystère lyrique has lost none of its power or resonance in the intervening 55 years. In a riveting performance conducted by Lukáš Vasilek, fire was once again the dominant theme and through thread, in both razor-sharp work by the orchestra and blazing vocals from eight soloists and two choirs. Emotions ran so hot and high that Vasilek and French actress Audrey Bonnet, who portrayed Joan, could barely move when the final notes faded away.

Read Frank Kuznik’s full review on the Bachtrack platform here.

On Wednesday, August 28, 2024, the Prague Philharmonic Choir performed Leoš Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass as part of the renowned London music festival BBC Proms. Read the most interesting insights from critics who attended the concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

Read the extensive review by David Karlin, co-founder of the renowned music portal Bachtrack.

This is how Veronika Vojčáková, a reviewer from the online portal OperaPlus.cz, described the concert of the Famous Opera Choruses, which took place on April 21, 2024, at the Spanish Hall. You can read the full review of this exceptional evening, organised by the Prague Philharmonic Choir, below.

On Sunday, April 21, the Famous Opera Choruses concert took place in the Spanish Hall, which was broadcast live by Czech Television on the ČT art channel. The viewership reached 147 thousand viewers. The Prague Philharmonic Choir, led by its principal choirmaster and also the conductor of the entire concert, Lukáš Vasilek, convinced everyone in the hall and in front of the television screens that it mastered, among other things, “…the art of delicate dynamic shading, sound plasticity, and exemplary articulation of the text,” as Radmila Hrdinová writes in her review on the Novinky.cz portal. You can read the text below.