Tomáš Netopil
João Miguel Silva Leoš Janáček
Bohuslav Martinů
Antonín Dvořák

Leoš Janáček (1854–1927) wrote the orchestral work Taras Bulba during the First World War, just before Czechoslovakia became independent from Austria-Hungary. He kept the theme to himself for a long time because the inspiration came from the other side of the war front, from a Russian writer. 

The Cossack Taras Bulba, the main character of Nikolai Gogol’s novel, loses his sons to war before he suffers a dramatic death. The music in Taras Bulba gradually builds from an enigmatic, subdued opening to an intensely powerful ending with a full orchestra, organ, and pipe bells.

Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959) combined the playful melodies and energetic rhythms of Czech folk music with inspiration from jazz, creating a distinctive tonal language that has been compared to Sergei Prokofiev’s and Béla Bartók’s music.

Martinů wrote his Oboe Concerto in 1955 for the Czech-Australian oboist Jiří Tancibudek, who premiered the piece during the Olympics in Melbourne in 1956. The soloist at this concert is João Miguel Silva, the alternating solo oboist at the Oslo Philharmonic.

During the 1870s, Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) went from being completely unknown to musical Europe’s new favorite, with Johannes Brahms as an important supporter and role model. The great breakthrough came with Slavic Dances based on Czech folk music.

Brahms’ second symphony was the model for Dvořák, who, in 1880, wrote a warm, bright, and summery symphony commissioned by the Vienna Philharmonic. Symphony No. 6 is rich in references, among others to Beethoven’s symphonies, Viennese dances, and Czech folk tunes.