Prague Society for International Cooperation establishes Hanno R. Ellenbogen Award
Culture throughout the world often lacks resources, both financial and human. There is no lack of human talent in Prague, but sometimes there is very little money available to support cultural projects. The Prague Society for International Cooperation has decided to make sure that this isn't the case for at least one person every year. Pavla Navratilova reports:
Late last week, the Prague Society for International Cooperation handed over a sum of 150,000 Czech crowns to the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra as the first recipient of the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Award. This award was given to the orchestra on the condition that it award this sum to the young aspiring musician of its choice. On November 16th, the Czech Philharmonic and the Prague Society announced that 14-year-old Lukas Vondracek, a pianist from Opava, would receive this amount in full to support his musical studies. To date, this talented young man has already produced two CDs, and studies at both the Faculty of Education in Ostrava and the Academy of Music in Vienna.
I spoke to the director of the Prague Society for International Cooperation, Barbara Day, who explained the intentions of the award:
