Concerts in Prague: Vivaldi Orchestra Praga

This project is the work of a young orchestra that is striving for a new interpretation of the music of Antonio Vivaldi, through the use of authentic means: unique instruments, old bows and gut strings, costumes, stage action and the ornamental dance movement of the period.

It will be an absolutely unprecedented event here. It connects to the long and rich tradition of performing Vivaldi’s work in Bohemia as Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) was linked with Bohemia as much as or possibly even more than W.A. Mozart was half a century later.

Vivaldi’s music was very popular here during his lifetime. Between 1726 and 1736 six of Vivaldi’s operas, two of which were premieres, were performed in Count Sporck’s theatre in Prague. Since, at that time, Vivaldi was already famous across Europe and travelled specially to new performances of his works, it is believed that he lived for an extended period in Prague.

The operas were staged by A. Denzio’s operatic company from Venice, for whom Vivaldi hired singers from Italy and organized the new operatic works.

Many unique manuscripts of his works are preserved in Czech archives. Some were written directly at the request of Czech noblemen, e.g. the lute compositions for Count Vrtba. Vivaldi’s most famous work ”Il cimento dell’ armonia e dell’ inventione, op.8” (the struggle of harmony with invention), containing the famous concerto "The Four Seasons" is even dedicated to Count V. Morzin. Antonio Vivaldi himself directed Morzin’s ensemble during their concerts in Italy.

Vivaldi Orchestra Praga, led by the Czech baroque specialist and violinist Václav Návrat, strives to join this tradition of outstanding ensembles and bring new content to the rather inflexible understanding of museum authenticity.

This is not a slavish copying of old forms in the old ways, but a discovery of the symbolism of the baroque period in all its breadth: the unification of its richness of sound with visual imagery and the making of an environment in which the illusion of the dreaming of past beauties can be created.