Berg Orchestra
| Berg Orchestra | |
|---|---|
| Orchestra | |
| Native name | Orchestr Berg |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Location | Prague, Czech Republic |
| Principal conductor | P. Vrábel |
| Music director | P. Vrábel |
| Website | www.berg.cz |
Berg Orchestra (in Czech, Orchestr Berg), initially formed as a group of like-minded music students in 1995 and officially founded in 2001 by Slovak conductor Peter Vrábel, is a professional orchestra in Prague, Czech Republic whose stated objective is "to constantly search for inspiration and accommodate new impulses from every sphere of contemporary life."
Aside from its performances in traditional concert halls, Berg performs in museums and sewage treatment facilities, on theater stages, in churches and synagogues, and sometimes accompanies silent film screenings or dance performances. The orchestra is well known for its unusual venue choices.
Vrábel launched his concert career early, collaborating as a student with numerous symphony and chamber orchestras, as well as with Kühn's Children Choir. In 1995 he founded Berg Orchestra as a means of promoting new music, actively collaborating with Czech composers, and creating opportunities for the younger generation of composers and performers through various projects. Berg's enterprises are diverse—despite its concentration on new music, the orchestra also programs older works and is thus occupied with period interpretation. Berg has produced many recordings for Czech Radio and also proven its versatility with jazz and film music.
When Berg launched its first season as an independent chamber orchestra in January 2001, the organizers knew very well what they were facing. "The music scene could be described as post-socialist," says Vrabel, who became Berg's conductor and artistic director. "Audiences rejected anything that was a bit more avant-garde, and many musicians looked at contemporary music with total disrespect. We had to learn how to live in freedom."
Concomitantly Vrábel is a guest conductor at the National Theater in Prague.
Collaboration is central to Berg Orchestra. Composers with whom the orchestra has worked closely include Heiner Goebbels,Fausto Romitelli,Lera Auerbach, and many others.
Berg Orchestra enjoys a longstanding collaborative association with the Spitfire dance theatre company.
In 2009, at the Spanish Synagogue in Prague, Berg premiered Jan Dušek's incidental music for E. Mason Hopper's 1922 silent film Hungry Hearts.
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Wikipedia