Antonín Dvořák wrote his First String Quartet in A Major, Op.2, when he was nearly 21 years old, but despite the early opus number, which suggests it was a mere exercise, the work represents much more than just an attempt by a novice composer. With Dvořák’s First String Quartet, the Dvořák Collection and the Chamber Series are presenting a work that exhibits formal mastery and romantic lyricism influenced by the style of Franz Schubert. Already clearly rising to the surface in this work by the young composer is his feeling for melodies supported by accompaniments of rhythmic fecundity. The music flows with the disarming naturalness that would become typical of Dvořák’s mature works.

The concert of the Zemlinsky Quartet will present a work by Alexander Zemlinsky, from whom the ensemble has taken its name. The composer and conductor was also the music director of Prague’s New German Theatre (today’s State Opera) from 1911-1927, and in his String Quartet No. 3 he created a work that is comparable to the music of Leoš Janáček, Béla Bartók, and Alban Berg. The highpoint of the programme will be an important classic, the String Quartet No. 9 in C Major by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is the third of the quartets commissioned by Count Andrey Kirillovich Razumovsky, and it takes the difficulty of the two previous compositions a step further. Regarded as nearly unplayable when it was written, today this music makes a brilliant effect, comparable to that of Beethoven’s great symphonies.

Founded in 1994 while the members were still students, the ZEMLINSKY QUARTET has become a much-lauded example of the Czech string quartet tradition. The Zemlinsky Quartet won the First Grand Prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in 2010. They have also been awarded top prizes at the Banff International String Quartet Competition (2007), Prague Spring International Music Competition (2005) and London International String Quartet Competition (2006), where they also received the Audience Prize. The Quartet was the recipient of the Alexander Zemlinsky Advancement Award in 2008. Other notable prizes include Beethoven International Competition (1999), New Talent Bratislava (2003), Martinů Foundation String Quartet Competition (2004), and the Prize of Czech Chamber Music Society (2005). In the season 2016/17, the Zemlinsky Quartet was appointed as the residential ensemble of the Czech Chamber Music Society.

The Zemlinsky Quartet performs regularly in the Czech Republic and abroad (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Monaco, Luxembourg, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Great Britain, Ireland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Canada, the USA, Brazil, Japan, South Korea). Recent major appearances of the Zemlinsky Quartet include London’s Wigmore Hall, Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Library of Congress, Place des Arts in Montreal, Prague Spring Festival, and their New York debut at the Schneider/New School Concerts Series. Their vast repertoire contains more than 350 works ranging from Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and Dvořák to works by contemporary composers. The Zemlinsky Quartet often cooperates with other renowned Czech and foreign artists (N. Mndoyants, F. Klieser, J. Brown, M. Collins, K. Zehnder, M. Kasík, I. Kahánek, M. Kaňka, K. Untermüller, the Pražák Quartet, the Prague Chamber Ballet, and others). The ensemble also regularly records for Czech Radio. The members of the quartet are also individual prize winners of several competitions (Concertino Praga, Spohr International Competition Weimar, Tribune of Young Artists UNESCO, Rotary Music Competition Nürnberg, the Beethoven International Competition, the Kocian International Competition).

Between 2007 and 2018, the Zemlinsky Quartet recorded exclusively under the French record label Praga Digitals. Their first 4-CD set of Dvořák’s early works for string quartet received the coveted French award, “Diapason d´Or“ prize in March 2007. In 2014, the Zemlinsky Quartet became only the fourth quartet in history to record the complete string quartets by Antonín Dvořák. Other Praga Digitals releases include all the string quartets and early chamber music of Alexander Zemlinsky, a 4-CD set of Schubert’s early quartets, a rare disc of Spanish music for strings, the famous quartets by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, five Mendelssohn-Bartholdy string quartets, works by A. Glazunov, and a relatively unknown but excellent piano quintet by M. Weinberg (in cooperation with the young Russian pianist Nikita Mndoyants). The ensemble has produced two CDs in cooperation with the Pražák Quartet (Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Strauss, Brahms, Martinů). In cooperation with the Kocian Quartet, the ensemble has recorded the complete string quartets by Czech contemporary composer V. Kalabis. Many recordings of the Zemlinsky Quartet have received universal critical acclaim in various publications such as The Strad, Gramophone, Diapason, and Fanfare magazines.

While students at the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts Prague, the ensemble was coached by members of renowned Czech string quartets including the Talich, Prague, Kocian and Pražák Quartets. The ensemble also took part in several master classes including ProQuartet, in France and Sommerakademie in Reichenau, Austria, where they were awarded First Prize for the best interpretation of a work by Janáček. From 2005 to 2008, the quartet studied with Walter Levin, the first violinist of the LaSalle Quartet. Their recent mentor has been Josef Klusoň, violist of the Pražák Quartet.

Between 2006-2011, the Zemlinsky Quartet were Assistant Quartet-in-Residence at Musik-Akademie Basel in Switzerland. Music education is an important part of their professional life and during their tours, the quartet is often invited to give master classes to students of all ages. They also perform educational concerts for students. František Souček and Petr Holman were recently appointed Professors at the Prague Conservatory.

The Zemlinsky Quartet is named after the Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher Alexander Zemlinsky (1871–1942), whose enormous contribution to Czech, German and Jewish culture during his 16-year residence in Prague had been underrated until recently. His four string quartets (the second one being dedicated to his student and brother-in-law Arnold Schönberg) are part of the basic repertoire of the ensemble. Since 2005, the quartet has maintained a special relationship with the Alexander Zemlinsky Foundation in Vienna.

source: zemlinskyquartet.cz

The Convent of St. Agnes in the 'Na Františku' neighbourhood of Prague's Old Town is considered the first Gothic structure not only in Prague but in all of Bohemia. It was founded by King Wenceslas I in 1233–34 at the instigation of his sister, the Přemyslid princess Agnes of Bohemia, for the Order of Saint Clare which Agnes introduced into Bohemia and of which she was the first abbess. The convent was preceded by a hospital. The 'Poor Clares' originated as an offshoot of the Order of St. Francis of Assisi, and the convent was at one time known as the Prague Assisi. Agnes was an outstanding figure in religious life of the thirteenth century. Besides this Clarist convent she also founded the only Czech religious order – the Hospital Order of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star. She was canonized in 1989.