Romance at the Rudolfinum
I know, I know, you were hoping for another post about kissing, weren’t you. This post isn’t about that; however, it’s full of romance.
On a twinkling night in Prague, across the Charles Bridge and down the riverside walk along the Vlatava to Dvorak Hall of the Rudolfinum, was a performance to fill your heart. We heard Hilary Hahn romance her Stradivarius as she kissed and embraced the audience with a passionate performance that night.
Grand music of the Camarata Salzburg, with Hilary’s earthy, raw, passionate, sometimes jarring yet elegant rendition of Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade After Plato’s ‘Symposium,’ performed in an ornate and historic music hall, double encores, and standing applause by an audience filled with elegantly dressed locals, made the event an exciting, heart-warming, once in a lifetime occasion during our time spent in Prague.
The Rudolfinum fills a city block with its grandeur. It’s designed in the neo-renaissance style and is situated on Jan Palach Square on the bank of the river Vltava. Currently Czech Philharmonic Orchestra is based in the building. Its largest music auditorium, Dvořák Hall, is where we heard Hilary’s performance, and is one of the main venues of the Prague Spring International Music Festival Its noted for its excellent acoustics.
Before the concert, we were greeted by a brass and timpani quintet on the steps of the Hall. What an appropriately regal introduction to the evening was this pre-concert fanfare:
How thrilling and surprising to have been assigned to two seats in the middle of the main section of the Hall, 14th row back. My friend Susan Taylor, Executive Director of the Waco Symphony Association, has always heard me claim that location as my favorite spot in the concert hall!
Although not a recording from that night, here’s a taste of what we heard:
This was an evening I’ll never forget. I can still see Hilary, her black and red lace-encrusted gown flowing as she moved to the strength of her execution, a delicate individual displaying such emotion and power, speaking to us, romancing us, along with her accompanying orchestra, through the language of music.
Love,
?
Jane
