Following the Czech National Symphony Orchestra’s triumphant 30th Anniversary U.S. tour in 2023, including the ensemble’s Carnegie Hall debut, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra returns in February 2025.
Under the baton of music director Steven Mercurio, the CNSO will feature two dynamic soloists, violinist Sandy Cameron and pianist Maxim Landau along with legendary symphonic favorites by Antonin Dvorak.
Czech National Symphony Orchestra (biography)
Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Under the direction of Music Director Steven Mercurio, the CNSO celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2023. Recognized as one of Europe’s first-rank symphonic ensembles and renowned for its versatility, the orchestra annually presents a broad program ranging from classical music concerts to contemporary genres, film scores, jazz and musicals. Since 2005, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra has also organized the summer Prague Proms Festival, which with its impressive array of prominent international performers, appeals to a diverse audience year in year out.
Composers, conductors, and performers such as Ennio Morricone, Lalo Schifrin, James Morrison, Branford & Wynton Marsalis, Pino Donnagio, Giuliano Taviani, José Carreras, Danny Elfman, Vince Men-doza, Giuseppe Tornatore, Carl Davis, Steven Mercurio, Marcello Rota, Christian Lindberg, Chick Corea, Vladimir Cosma repeatedly come back to Prague to either record with the orchestra or perform in the beautiful Smetana Hall at Prague’s Municipal House, the home concert stage of the orchestra. Highlights from recent concert seasons include a European tour with the legendary Ennio Morricone, and a Prague concert with Anna Netrebko.
Meanwhile in the studio the orchestra worked on recording Plácido Domingo and Vittorio Grigolo’s new Christmas album, also collaborating with Ennio Morricone on his score for the new western film The Hateful Eight directed by Quentin Tarantino. Ennio Morricone then went on to win an Oscar after 500 movie credits! The soundtrack was recorded live and launched by Tarantino, Morricone, and the CNSO at Abbey Road Studios in December 2015. Following on from the collaboration with Columbia Artists Management Inc., the orchestra toured the USA in February and March 2016. In 2017, the orchestra toured extensively with Ennio Morricone and James Newton Howard.
The CNSO has also renewed its longstanding cooperation with Andrea Bocelli, plus accompanied Ro-lando Villazon and Jonas Kaufmann. The orchestra has collaborated with some of the most prominent pop artists, such as Sting, George Michael, Natalie Cole, Dianne Reeves, Angélique Kidjo, Denise Donatelli, Ute Lemper, and great instrumentalists, such as James Morrison, Branford & Wynton Marsalis, Bobby Shew, Joe Lovano, John Abercrombie, John Patitucci, Dave Weckl, Chick Corea and many more.
Successful tours have taken place over the British Isles, USA, Canada, France, Spain, Dubai, Japan, Mexico, China, Korea, Oman, Australia, and New Zealand. The Czech National Symphony Orchestra’s re-cordings go on sale worldwide, and the orchestra takes pride in having produced a number of Gold CDs (for more than 30 000 copies sold). Other accolades include the Gustav Mahler Prize, awarded for the interpretation of Mahler’s works, and the prestigious contract the orchestra signed with IMG Artists London and Columbia Artists New York. Achievements also include a long-standing recording project in association with Tokyo-based media company Victor Entertainment.
The Czech National Symphony Orchestra was set up in 1993 by trumpet player Jan Hasenöhrl along with the legendary conductor Zdeněk Košler.
Steven Mercurio (biography)
Steven Mercurio
Maestro Steven Mercurio is an internationally acclaimed conductor and composer whose musical versatility encompasses the symphonic and operatic worlds. After receiving his Masters degree from the Juilliard School, he lived in Italy for a year and composed “For Lost Loved Ones,” a large-scale symphonic tone poem premiered by the New York Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta conducting. From 1985 through 1988, he was Assistant and then Associate Conductor for the Brooklyn Philharmonic under Lukas Foss. From 1987 through 1991 he was Assistant Conductor for the Metropolitan Opera. From 1988 to 1991 he was the Assistant Composer in Residence for the New York Philharmonic. He was Principal Conductor for the Opera Company of Philadelphia from 1990 through 1997 and simultaneously, from 1993 to 1997 became Music Director of the Spoleto Festival working alongside Gian Carlo Menotti. Following in the footsteps of his teacher, Leonard Bernstein, Maestro Mercurio is a conductor and a composer that believes in creating an inclusive musical environment, stressing music education and community involvement. His versatility has made him a sought after collaborator for many award winning recordings, arrangements and film projects.
For the stage, he has conducted more than fifty different operas in seven different languages. His engagements have taken him to many of the world’s best loved opera houses including the Teatro dell’Opera, Roma; Teatro Bellini, Catania; Teatro Filarmonico, Verona; Teatro Reggio, Torino; Teatro Verdi, Trieste; Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Bonn Opera, Teatro Massimo, Palermo, English National Opera as well as the American opera companies of San Francisco, Washington, Philadelphia, Seattle, Detroit, Opera Pacific, Florida Grand, Pittsburgh, Dallas and Cincinnati.
In addition to Maestro Mercurio’s operatic repertoire, his symphonic appearances have included: the London Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta, the Royal Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Luxembourg, Prague Philharmonia, Czech Ntaional Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and the Sacramento and San Diego Symphony Orchestras in addition to his own Spoleto Festival Orchestra.
Sandy Cameron (biography)
Sandy Cameron
Declared “brilliant” by the Washington Post, violinist Sandy Cameron is one of the most strikingly unique artists of her generation. Since her debut at the age of 12 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, Ms. Cameron has performed extensively as a soloist throughout the world. Here are some highlights of Sandy’s work:
Places and Orchestras: Ms. Cameron has been recognized on stages worldwide and in a variety of settings. The White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the Adelaide Festival of the Arts in Australia are among a number of unique performance experiences Ms. Cameron has had. She has appeared at venues such as the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany, and the Sydney Opera House. Ms. Cameron has collaborated with numerous orchestras, including the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Kirov Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, and Tokyo Philharmonic.
On Stage: The most noteworthy, and a truly rewarding experience of Ms. Cameron’s career as a concert soloist is Danny Elfman’s Violin Concerto, “Eleven Eleven”. Mr. Elfman wrote this concerto for Ms. Cameron, and she had the great pleasure and honor of presenting the world premiere with conductor John Mauceri at the Prague Proms in June 2017. It was received with great success, and Ms. Cameron continues to enjoy performing the piece for audiences worldwide. Other recent special stage appearances include her partnership with Marco Beltrami on Bach by Beltrami, as well as performances for Cirque du Soleil, Tan Dun’s Martial Arts Trilogy, and Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton. Ms. Cameron is also featured in performances with renowned jazz trumpeter-composer Chris Botti, with whom she has toured globally. Additionally, Ms. Cameron has written and performed her own musical arrangements for a number of productions at the Hollywood Bowl, including Disney’s The Nightmare Before Christmas Live in Concert, Disney’s The Little Mermaid Live in Concert, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Live in Concert, and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Live in Concert.
In the Studio: Versatile in her abilities as an artist, Ms. Cameron also enjoys musical engagements off the stage. In 2018, she recorded the Elfman Violin Concerto with Maestro Mauceri and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, available on Sony Classical. Currently, she is featured as a soloist in Bear McCreary’s music for Amazon Prime’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Ms. Cameron is also featured soloist on soundtracks to John Powell’s The Call of the Wild, Bear McCreary’s The Professor and The Madman, Cirque Du Soleil’s IRIS, the video games Call of Duty: Vanguard and Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, the History Channel’s Houdini, and more.
The outstanding violin used by Ms. Cameron, crafted by Pietro Guarnerius of Venice, c. 1735, is on extended loan through the generous efforts of the Stradivari Society® of Chicago.
Maxim Lando (biography)
Maxim Lando
American pianist Maxim Lando has been described as a “dazzling fire-eater” (ARTS San Francisco) and “a total musical being” (The New Criterion). He was lauded by Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times as displaying “brilliance and infectious exuberance” combined with “impressive delicacy” and a “wild-eyed danger.”
Maxim first made international headlines performing together with Lang Lang, Chick Corea, and The Philadelphia Orchestra led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin at Carnegie Hall’s 2017 Opening Night Gala. Since then, he has performed with major orchestras around the world including Pittsburgh Symphony, Russian National Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, St. Petersburg Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Hawaii Symphony, and many others.
A recipient of the prestigious Gilmore Young Artist Award, Maxim is also First Prize winner in both the 2022 New York Franz Liszt International Competition and The Vendome Prize 2021/22. He continues to garner international attention on the largest stages, this past year returning to Carnegie Hall to perform Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 with Orchestra of St. Luke’s led by Gabor Hollerung. As winner of the 2021 Juilliard Concerto Competition, he made his Alice Tully Hall debut performing Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Juilliard Orchestra led by Xian Zhang.
In 2020 Maxim was named Musical America’s New Artist of the Month, and in 2018 at the age 16, Maxim won First Prize at the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. His following sold-out recital debuts at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall and the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater included Liszt’s complete Transcendental Etudes and were hailed by the New York Times as a concert “You Won’t Want To Miss!”
Maxim has been featured as a Guest Artist at numerous festivals including Gilmore Piano Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Kissinger Sommer (Germany), Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival (Germany), Ravinia Festival, Rising Stars Munich, and Musical Olympus International Festival (Russia). Recital highlights include performances at the National Center for Performing Arts in Beijing, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, Carnegie Hall Presents, Symphony Hall in Shenzhen, Chicago’s Millennium Park, Lied Center of Kansas, Beethoven Haus in Bonn, GRAMMY Salute to Classical Music, and University of Georgia Athens Presents. He was invited by Lang Lang to perform for the historic opening of Steinway and Sons in Beijing, and performed Rachmaninoff 3rd Concerto for an outdoor audience of 50,000 people with Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra in Madison, Wisconsin.
Maxim is a passionate chamber musician, collaborating with artists such as Daniel Hope, Julian Rachlin, Lynn Harrell, and the Danish String Quartet. He was awarded a 2023 International Classical Music Award (ICMA) for “Into Madness” (recorded by Bavarian Radio on Berlin Classics) with German violinist Tassilo Probst.
Maxim is an alumnus of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, and studies with longtime mentor Hung-Kuan Chen at The Juilliard School.
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