From Prague Zoo to a brewery and wastewater treatment plant: Troja Festival brings music to unexpected places
Classical music and unusual venues will come together in Prague's Troja district from Thursday as the Troja Festival returns for its third edition. Running until June 23 and themed Between Heaven and Earth, the festival aims to connect music with some of the city's most distinctive settings. Ahead of the event, I spoke with one of its founders, Martina Výrková, and first asked her how it all began.
"We started in 2023, when it was just a dream of violinist Jozef Špaček, who lives in Troja and envisioned a festival that would bring music to its beautiful locations. He spoke about it with me, his manager, and with our friends Mila Dubská and Petr Dvořák.
"We then organised a trial edition in 2024. Audiences found it very enjoyable and enriching, so I'm happy to say that we are launching the third edition this Thursday.”
The theme of this year's festival is Between Heaven and Earth. What inspired that theme, and how is it reflected in the programme?
"The theme Between Heaven and Earth was primarily inspired by the opening concert at the Prague Planetarium. As the venue suggests, the programme there is linked to the universe and the evolution of humankind.
"We will perform Haydn's prologue to The Creation, called Chaos of the Universe, followed by Luboš Fišer's Concerto per Galileo Galilei. The highlight of the evening is Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra. This opening concert was the main inspiration for the festival theme.
"But there are many more concerts to come, and they reflect the many dimensions of human life: emotions, feelings, spirituality and a love of nature. We want to inspire audiences to reflect on the beauty of life and to appreciate it."
As you said, the opening programme will take place at Prague's Planetarium, but that's not the only unusual venue this year. Could you tell us more about some of the places hosting concerts at this year's festival?
"Back in 2024, we established what could be called a core group of festival venues in Troja itself. These include Troja Château, the former Troja Brewery next door, a relatively unknown but very pleasant venue with excellent acoustics, as well as Prague Zoo and the Botanical Garden.
"Last year, we also introduced the Old Wastewater Treatment Plant in Bubeneč, which is simply fabulous because of its acoustics and atmosphere. We liked the contrast between the industrial architecture and the heavenly music, so we are very happy to return there this year with Mozart's Clarinet Quintet and Tchaikovsky's String Sextet.
"This year, we have also added the Prague Planetarium, which has proved to be a very popular venue."
You have already mentioned some of the works on the programme. What about the musicians? Could you mention some of the performers appearing at this year's Troja Festival?
"As I mentioned, the festival was founded by a group of friends led by the world-renowned violinist Jozef Špaček. He is the festival's artistic director and performs at most of the concerts.
"Every year, we are also delighted to welcome the brothers Joel and Alex Link. Joel is the concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra, while Alex is both a musician and a scientist.
"Audiences can also look forward to Eva Krestová, Jana Boušková and the Dutch cellist Harriet Krijgh. Among the pianists, we should mention Denis Kozhukhin and Lukáš Vondráček. There are many others as well, all of them great friends and wonderful musicians."
I should perhaps ask at the end: are there still any tickets left?
"That's a good question. There are no tickets left for the Planetarium concert, which is completely sold out.
"For most of the other venues, only a few dozen tickets remain. The good news is that the former Troja Brewery is a very large and spacious venue, so if you are interested in either of the concerts taking place there, you still have a very good chance of getting in. It can accommodate up to 500 people."
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