Petr Popelka / kontrabas, Zemlinského kvarteto

Petr Popelka / double bass
The Zemlinsky Quartet
František Souček, Petr Strižek / violin
Petr Holman / viola
Vladimir Fortin / cello

Program:
Antonin Dvorak
String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op. 77
Bedrich Smetana
Jumping from the opera Prodaná věstá (arr. for string quintet with double bass)
Franz Liszt
Angelus! from the piano cycle Years of Wanderings III S. 163 (ar. for string quintet with double bass)


While most of the leading Czech conductors of the young and middle generation are known primarily in the role of heads of their orchestras, Petr Popelka was until recently a successful player on the double bass, from 2010-2019 the deputy leader of the double bass group in the famous Sächsische Staatskapele Dresden. But then there was a rocket turn and in just a few seasons he gradually became the chief conductor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (from August 2020), the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra (from September 2022) and finally the Vienna Symphony Orchestra (from the 2024/5 season). At the festival, he will perform with the Zemlinsky Quartet in Dvořák's famous String Quintet No. 2 in G major, op. 77, which, in the spirit of the overall dramaturgy, will be supplemented by quintet adaptations of Skocné from the opera Prodaná věsta and Angelus! originally from the piano cycle Summers of Wanderings by Smetana's friend and compositional role model, Franz Liszt.