Josef Špaček, a world-renowned violinist, and the Barocco sempre giovane string ensemble will perform Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and Ástor Piazzolla's The Four Seasons in Buenos Aires together in an Advent tour of six Czech and Moravian cities.

Composers have been inspired by nature since time immemorial. The changing of the seasons has also become an interesting challenge for various composers. In the Baroque era, Antonio Vivaldi's (1678-1741) The Four Seasons is undoubtedly on a pedestal in this category. This composition can without exaggeration be ranked as one of the most popular and well-known works of classical music. The singing of birds, summer storms and many other moments are inseparably linked with this Vivaldi's four violin concertos.

Two and a half centuries later, Ástor Piazzolla (1921- 1992) chose to compose a similar cycle. The Four Seasons in Buenos Aires has also gradually earned its place in the sun and can rightly be counted among Piazzolla's representative works.

A comparison of the two 'seasons' would take many pages to write, but the origins of both composers are of some interest. Both have their roots in Italy, which is evident in the temperament of their works. While the Venetian-born Vivaldi is mainly famous for his native country, Piazzolla is the son of Italian immigrants who settled in Argentina. His work is dominated by elements of Latin American music, especially the tango. But his music is a synthesis of many styles, resulting in an original musical language. Both composers were also virtuosos on their instruments. Vivaldi's violin playing is legendary; Piazzolla, on the other hand, was masterful on the bandoneon, an accordion-like instrument.

We will not hear the bandoneon at our concerts, because Piazzolla's piece will be performed in an arrangement for strings. The soloist will be the excellent Czech violinist Josef Špaček. The list of his achievements would be very long, but we can mention his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the Juilliard School in New York in the class of Itzhak Perlman. At the age of twenty-three, he became the youngest concertmaster in the history of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, where he is now a permanent guest artist.

Barocco sempre giovane (Baroque still young) is a chamber ensemble composed of top young Czech professional musicians. It was founded in 2004 by cellist Josef Krečmer. The ensemble originally specialised in the performance of works from the High Baroque period (hence the name of the ensemble), but today its repertoire includes works from all styles, including music of the 21st century.

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