Belgium-based pianist and composer Daniel Verstappen is set to take the stage at Rudolfinum’s Suk Hall on March 20th at 19:30, alongside esteemed viola player Marina Barskaya. This highly anticipated performance promises to be an evening of exceptional musical talent. Get your ticket here Verstappen, known for his dedication to showcasing emerging musicians, regularly features talented pianists during his performances and extends special discounts to students, highlighting his commitment to nurturing young talent. The concert is part of Verstappen’s Reconnection World Tour, which has seen him grace renowned concert halls worldwide, including the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall in New York, and Harpa in Iceland. With compositions published by Universal Publishing, Verstappen’s contributions to music education are widely recognized. His SONGBOOK RECONNECTION has become a valuable resource for piano instructors globally. Verstappen’s musical achievements have gained significant attention, including a performance at the World Expo in Dubai in 2022, attended by Belgian royalty and dignitaries from the UAE. A hallmark of Verstappen’s work is his commitment to cultural exchange. By collaborating with local choirs and guest artists, he seamlessly integrates his repertoire with traditional music, fostering meaningful connections with diverse audiences. The documentary “Bridge Between Cultures” offers insight into these...
Czechs have a lot of sayings and some about themselves. Here are 3 of them and we will not only explain what they mean but also where they come from. Golden Czech Hands (Zlaté české ručičky) Zlaté české ručičky or Golden Czech Hands refers to the ability of the Czech people to make anything themselves. Need electricity installed in your house? No problem, the uncle can do it! Need some furniture built? Don’t call the professionals, we will figure it out! This illustrates the attitude many Czechs have towards making things they need instead of leaving it to the professionals. Not that they would distrust them, this habit comes from the 40 years of communism where even simple things were scarce and people had to figure things out on their own. We are talking about relatively recent times which many Czechs still remember so they are not only used to making things themselves but are also really good at it. Every Czech is a musician (Co Čech to muzikant) Czech festivities have always been accompanied by lots of music. Previously no professional bands were being hired, the village people were always responsible for this irreplaceable part of every...
Einstein’s years in Prague are an important milestone in the life of this important researcher and philosopher. In Prague, Albert Einstein found – according to his own writings – the necessary composure to give the basic thought of the general theory of relativity (1908) a more definite shape. It was in Prague that Einstein came up with the idea of gravitational lensing, the concept that the pull of stars, planets and other astronomical objects would distort light rays. That idea — tool — is now central to modern astronomy, used to determine, for example, how much dark matter is hovering around clusters of galaxies. Although Einstein had yet to conjure up a dynamical theory of space-time, it was his prediction of gravitational lensing that would demonstrate the theory’s chops in 1919, when physicist Arthur Eddington and his colleagues measured how light from stars in the Hyades cluster was deflected by the gravitational pull of the Sun during a solar eclipse. Einstein came to Prague with his family – his wife Mileva and two sons, Hans Albert (7 years) and Eduard (1 year). Einstein was appointed a full professor at the German University where held lectures about mechanics and kinetic heat...
Enjoy the true Czech Easter! The traditional markets in cities, castles and châteaux will take you back a few centuries and the festive Easter dishes will expand your gastronomical horizons. In short, the program for this year’s Easter festivities is quite rich again. Come to Easter Market the Old Town Square in Prague. At the market, you can see painted eggs, rattles, whips, and there are also cultural events on a stage with folk songs and dances. The Republic Square in Plzeň will also come to life with an Easter market. The square will be filled with painted eggs and hand-woven whips full of ribbons, as well as stands with a selection of sausages, stuffing, cheeses, and mead. Brno has also prepared the traditional Easter market. You can look forward to forty stands with the most diverse products, such as wicker baskets, whips, pottery, jewelry, decorations or Easter-painted eggs. This year’s program will be rich in cultural events full of dance and singing, performed by Moravian folklore groups and bands. In South Bohemia, in Český Krumlov, the local farmers and artisans will offer stylish products, Easter whips or painted eggs. You can admire wooden products or fur sheep, as well...
DJ Shadow is a pioneering hip-hop turntablist and producer merging electronica with hip-hop and practically no limits to other genres in his creations. He returns to Prague, since his last appearance in 2012, and with once again a newer sound. Since 1991 his finesse originally as a master turntablist and sampler (jazz, rock, funk, etc.) has evolved over the years, so beyond the term mix-master, he could be called a post-modern channeler through his music incorporating multi-genre musicians, spoken word, rappers, vocalists and of course, still based on a myriad of samples up his sleeve. His earliest singles were described by UK music critics with a fresh term (genre) – they called it “trip-hop” to describe this new direction of slow psychedelia influenced hip-hop for labels Mo’Wax and Ninja Tune. However, his album “Action Adventure” (2023) is light years from this sound. The album cover is a 007-Kung Fu spoof with an Asian assassin-spy, knife in hand, and some of the tunes are in synch with it as if made for video games with high-speed or upbeat melodies; there is some downtime (deep and eerie beats for the hip-hop minded) between high-flying or lush electronica and dance-pop. The most pop-oriented song...
The festival season will kick off this year in Prague right at the beginning of May. Wednesday, May 1st, will be dedicated to celebrating Europe on the islands in the center of Prague. As part of the “Experience Europe” event, the Czech Republic will commemorate twenty years since joining the European Union. Its highlight will be the 21st edition of the traditional United Islands of Prague festival, where organizers will not only present the best of Czech emerging artists but also the most interesting discoveries from the European music scene. From May 1st to 4th, the Prague islands will offer, alongside a reminder of peace, safety, and cooperation on the European continent, a diverse mix of unheard music from all twenty-seven European Union countries. Festival-goers can also expect presentations from European countries and an exciting accompanying program curated this year by the organization “Thanks, we can,” known for the traditional November event Korzo Národní. “Twenty years ago, the Czech Republic joined the European Union. Since then, the quality of life for most people in the Czech Republic has significantly improved. We all benefit from EU membership, not only because we live in safety and have access to the world’s largest...
On March 2, 2024, Czechs celebrate the bicentenary of Bedřich Smetana’s birth, Czech music composer, founder of the Czech national music and author of the symphony “My Country”. Smetana not only defined the musical identity of Czechia, but his work, especially “The Bartered Bride”, touched the audience all over the world. Born in Litomyšl, Eastern Bohemia, Smetana displayed musical talent from an early age, receiving his first music lessons from his father before later moving to Prague to study. Despite facing personal tragedy and adversity, including the deaths of three of his four daughters and deafness in his later years, the composer remained dedicated to his musical craft, leaving behind a legacy that continues to inspire musicians and audiences worldwide, two centuries after his birth. The National Theater Opera will host a Smetana Gala concert on Saturday, March 2, at the historic ND building, featuring a selection of Smetana’s operas. The performance will be broadcast on television and radio and live streamed onto the National Theatre’s Piazetta, where the public can enjoy the concert and commemorate Smetana’s birthday via a giant outdoor screen. In addition to pleasant and warm seating, hot drinks and some yummies, organizers are preparing a rich...
Sound festival will take over another unique Prague space this Friday. Contemporary underground electronic music will fill an abandoned industrial hall in Prague’s Malešice. The space formerly used for the construction of military aircraft will be filled with fans of Berlin electronics this Friday. The headliner is techno icon and resident of Berlin’s Berghain club – Ben Klock, who will be joined by British producer Setaoc Mass, French dj Arkan and local Pink Concrete. Ben Klock is the undisputed ambassador and driving force of Berlin techno. He has been a resident at the iconic Berghain club since 2005 and is one of the leading names on the lineups of the world’s biggest techno festivals. So there was no doubt that he was the ideal headliner for the next indoor chapter of the Sound Festival, which moved to the raw environment of the industrial hall in Prague’s Malešice, where a similar event will take place for the first time ever. The space will thus be transformed into the center of the Czech techno community on Friday night. Ben Klock will be accompanied on the stage by the British producer Setaoc Mass, French dj Arkan, and local Pink Concrete. The industrial spaces...
Insider Monkey recently analyzed the twenty most challenging languages for English speakers to master, and the Czech language features among the top 10. Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese are among the toughest languages for English speakers to learn, particularly due to their complex grammar, writing, and pronunciation systems. Moreover, Mandarin Chinese is also one of the most spoken native languages in the world. According to data from Ethnologue, it is spoken by over 1 billion speakers around the globe. Mandarin is also one of the most commonly spoken and official dialects of Chinese, spoken by approximately 80% of the Chinese population. To compile the list of the top 20 languages with the hardest grammar for English speakers, they used the Foreign Services Institute data on Foreign Language Training. Foreign Services Institute categorizes languages into 4 broad categories based on the number of class hours required to learn a language. For this article, we used Category 3 and Category 4, which require 1,100 and 2,200 class hours for English speakers to learn. The Foreign Services Institute does not give individual rankings for the languages. Therefore, they employed a consensus methodology to rank our languages. They shifted through the rankings of Berlitz,...
On February 25, 1969, Jan Zajíc, an 18-year-old student from Šumperk set himself on fire to protest against growing public apathy to the Soviet led-invasion in 1968. Zajíc, who felt that further protest actions were needed, committed the act on the 21st anniversary of the communist putsch in 1948. He had several letters with him urging the people to fight against the Soviet military occupation of Czechoslovakia. He left for Prague on the morning of 25 February 1969. Even though three of his classmates were traveling with him for different reasons and the police knew about his intention, no one succeeded in preventing Zajíc from committing suicide. At about 1:30 p.m., he doused himself with petrol and set himself on fire in house number 39 on Wenceslas Square in Prague. He died directly on the spot after having failed to run out of the building. He left there a list of his fictitious followers and a declaration called “Citizens of the Czechoslovak Republic”: “Despite what Jan Palach did, our life is returning to its old ways” he writes, “and that is why I decided to wake up your consciousness as torch number 2. I am not doing it to be...
Amazon’s Blade Runner series, set in the iconic dystopian cyberpunk world, gears up for filming in Prague at Barrandov Studios. Director Ridley Scott, also the producer, promises a continuation of the story in “Blade Runner 2099.” While Scott juggles various projects, including a planned Gladiator sequel, filming for the series was initially delayed from last summer in Belfast due to a writer’s strike. Now, the wait is over! Camera shutters will fall this April, but not in Belfast. Deadline reports the production has shifted to Prague. The series is being directed by Jonathan van Tulleken, who will executive produce the first two episodes. Tulleken recently directed the first two episodes of FX’s Shōgun. Van Tulleken joins the project as executive producer alongside showrunner and head writer Silka Luisa (Shining Girls) and Tom Spezialy (Ash vs Evil Dead) who contributed to the script. Details about the plot remain shrouded in mystery, but speculation points towards “Blade Runner 2099” continuing the established narrative. Blade Runner 2049, the 2017 feature film directed by Denis Villeneuve was shot in Hungary, at Origo Studios in Budapest and Korda Studios in Etyek; on-location shoots took place at Stock Exchange Palace, Szabadság in Budapest. The Czech Republic has...
The 11th edition of the Spectaculare Festival kicks off this Friday, transforming Prague into a playground for music lovers. Curated by Josef Sedloň, the festival features everything from quiet, relaxing sounds to high-energy beats, all brought to life with cool visuals. From cozy churches to bumping clubs, different spots around the city will be filled with music from February 23rd to March 28th. Here are some of the coolest things happening: Start with a Bang: Lose yourself in the beautiful music of “Colours of Air” by Loscil & Lawrence English at the Church of St. Simon and Jude. Stunning pictures and a laser show made just for the event will kick off the festival in an unforgettable way. Electronic Beats: Head to Bike Jesus to hear the mind-blowing sounds of British producers. You’ll hear Clark playing his new album “Cave Dog” (released on 1st December) along with his latest hits, and DJ Counselling will spin some chill house music. The mysterious Holy Other will round out the night with his unique style. Jazz Meets Electronica Get ready for a mix of jazz and electronic music at Akropolis. The Danish duo Svaneborg Kardyb will show off their awesome new work, and...
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