On 21 December, we wrapped up our 2025 Subscription Series with a special concert in the Knight’s Hall of the Grand Prior’s Palace in Prague. The program featured works by Antonio Vivaldi, whose music spread across Europe in the 18th century and was widely performed and preserved in the Czech lands. Czech archives hold some of the oldest and finest manuscripts of his compositions, including the sacred works Laudate pueri RV 600 and Salve Regina RV 617.
The concert also highlighted the music of Czech Baroque composer Jan Josef Ignác Brentner. Thanks to the Jesuits, Brentner’s sacred works even reached South America. Striking parallels between Vivaldi and Brentner allowed the audience to experience both the rich performance tradition of Vivaldi’s music in 18th-century Bohemia and the remarkable quality and expressiveness of Czech Baroque compositions.
