Stephen Hough (source: Sim Canetty-Clarke)
The works of contemporary Slovak composer Ľubica Čekovská are also known outside Slovakia. Her recent work for a symphonic orchestra, Palingenia, was composed at the behest of the Essen Philharmonic and premiered there in 2015. On April 19 and 20, the Slovak Philharmonic will give this 24 minute piece its Slovak premiere, and finish off the first half performance with Beethoven's Eighth Symphony. After the break, British piano virtuoso Stephen Hough, making his debut in Slovakia, will perform Concerto No 1 for Piano and Orchestra by Sergei Rachmaninoff, SF spokesperson Martina Tolstová, informed.
James Judd (source: Ján F. Lukáš)
Both concerts will be conducted by the British principal conductor of the SF, James Judd.
The piece about the life of a mayfly
"Palingenia (a mayfly, or ephemerid) is the musical story of an unpretentious insect which lives for a mere 24 hours on the banks of the Danube river,” an SF spokesperson describes. “It wakes up in the morning, experiences life as a continuous wonderful dance in a swarm with other mayflies, and by the end of the day, the tiny white bodies fall – in the form of a huge white flower – onto the Danube's surface and perish, in the cycle of life and death.”
Ľubica Čekovská (source: Courtesy of SF)
Stephen Hough is an outstanding performer, who – apart from playing piano and composing (for orchestra, choir, chamber ensembles and solo piano) – also writes. The Economist magazine named him one of the 20 polymaths still alive. He has been writing a blog for The Telegraph about culture for seven years, while also authoring books such as The Bible as a Prayer (2007) and the novel The Final Retreat (2018). Apart form other activities, he also lectures in music at the Royal Academy of Music in London, at the Royal Northern College in Manchester, and at the Juilliard School.
