‘There’s just this special energy that comes across the orchestra when you’re playing Don Giovanni where it was premiered,’ says the cellist, ‘I think everyone got goosebumps.’
I first heard about the Prague Summer Nights Festival while studying at the Eastman School of Music and went for the first time this year! I feel like there aren’t many summer festivals where you can do opera, which I’ve always wanted to do, so I couldn’t turn down that opportunity.
It was a month-long programme, and most of us were college-age students from the US. For the first two weeks we were in Tábor, where the orchestra did three all-symphonic concerts while the singers were preparing the operas. We got to Prague in the second week and were pretty much rehearsing all day, but we still had some time to explore the city. Towards the end of the festival, the singers and the orchestra joined up to put together the operas, and the last week was our performance week.
We did two performances of The Marriage of Figaro and two of Don Giovanni, each time with a different cast. It went smoothly even though we didn’t have that much time with the singers, and I think it mirrors what happens in a professional environment, which is good experience for sure.
There’s just this special energy that comes across the orchestra when you’re playing Don Giovanni where it was premiered, and there’s a little plaque in the pit says that this is where Mozart stood and conducted. I think everyone got goosebumps.
The opportunity to spend such a long time in all these places is really valuable, and to play this music is one thing, but to play it in Tábor and Prague? For me, there’s no better way to spend the summer.
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