Czech Philharmonic • Variations

One of the most important and sought-after Czech violinists and the concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic Jiří Vodička has excelled in a number of competitions since very early on (Kocian International Violin Competition, Prague Junior Note, the best participant at violin classes led by Václav Hudeček, among others). At the unusually early age of 14, he was admitted to the Institute for Artistic Studies at the University of Ostrava, where he studied under the renowned pedagogue Zdeněk Gola. He graduated in 2007 with a master’s degree. His success continued as an adult, for example winning first and second prizes at the world-famous competition Young Concert Artists (2008) held in Leipzig and New York.

He has made solo appearances not only with Czech orchestras like the Prague Philharmonia or the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, but also with the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Westphalia, and the Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra. His professional activities are of greater breadth, however. In 2014, he recorded his debut solo album “Violino Solo” on the Supraphon label, and crossover fans can hear him on his worldwide Vivaldianno tour. He has performed chamber music with the outstanding Czech pianists Martin Kasík, Ivo Kahánek, Ivan Klánský, David Mareček, and Miroslav Sekera. He regularly takes part at famous festivals, such as the Prague Spring, Janacek’s May, Grand festival of China and Choriner Musiksommer. He was a member of the Smetana Trio from 2012 to 2018; in 2020 he founded the Piano Trio of the Czech Philharmonic, with which he won the Vienna International Competition in 2021. Many of the concerts of the “Czech Paganini”, as Vodička is sometimes called because of his extraordinary technical skill, have been recorded by Czech Television, Czech Radio, or the German broadcasting company ARD. Besides all of that he teaches at the University of Ostrava. 

He plays Italian violin made by Joseph Gagliano in 1767 which he received for long-term use from the Czech Philharmonic’s former chief conductor Jiří Bělohlávek.

For Czech Philharmonic fans, the American conductor Keith Lockhart probably comes to mind in connection with the traditional June open-air concerts on Hradčany Square – at the end of last season, Lockhart took the baton before the leading Czech orchestra on that occasion for the second time. He is the music director of the Boston Pops Orchestra and the artistic director of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, but Czech audiences may associate him with four popular concerts given around the Czech Republic when in 2016 the Czech Philharmonic joined with him in presenting a programme titled The Best of Broadway, the very first concert of melodies from musicals that the Rudolfinum-based orchestra ever played.

Keith Lockhart was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, and he began his music education with piano lessons at age seven. A graduate of Furman University majoring in both German and piano, he furthered his studies at Carnegie Mellon University, where his focus finally turned to conducting. He has now been the conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra for nearly 30 years, since 1995. With that orchestra, he has given nearly 2,000 performances and has gone on 45 American tours visiting 150 cities. There were also four tours abroad. His full impact on America’s cultural life can also be seen in the 80 television broadcasts on which he has appeared, including performances at such major sporting events such as the American football championship (Super Bowl) and the NBA basketball finals. Each year on Independence Day (the Fourth of July), the orchestra attracts an audience of over half a million (along with millions more watching the live TV broadcast) for the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular. Not all of his American conducting legacy is connected with the Boston Pops Orchestra. For 11 years he was the music director of the Utah Symphony Orchestra, where his most visible performance was certainly at the opening of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Although most of Lockhart’s performing has been in North America (where one might say he has conducted nearly every orchestra), his activities in Europe have been by no means negligible. He has stood at the helm of such orchestras as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, and from 2010 to 2018 he served as the principal guest conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, with which he took part in annual festival appearances at The Proms and in celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the orchestra’s founding. Also in 2012, the ensemble performed at a gala concert for Britain’s late Queen Elizabeth II.