The Columbus Indiana Philharmonic’s 39th season will begin with a thrilling tour of the Czech Republic’s capital city in “Mission: Prague.”
The music and architecture of Prague will come to life in this collaborative concert between the Philharmonic and the Landmark Columbus Foundation.
The concert will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Columbus North High School’s Erne Auditorium. Tickets can be purchased at thecip.org.
“Mission: Prague” will open with Lalo Schifrin’s “Mission: Impossible” theme, which CIP Music Director Isaac Selya said was chosen because of its iconic nature and because many of the “Mission: Impossible” films were shot in Prague. Miriam Smith of Cincinnati will then take the stage for a performance of Czech composer Dvořák’s Cello Concerto.
Though she only started college recently, Smith has already attracted international attention as a cello soloist, winning competitions and performing with orchestras. Selya said Smith specializes in Dvořák’s music and she had been recommended to him multiple times.
With Dvořák’s Cello Concerto being one piece the Philharmonic had been wanting to perform, Selya said that piece served as the backbone for centering the concert around Prague.
“… we’re really lucky to work with her so that we can say we worked with her when because her trajectory is just straight up right now,” Selya said. “She’s playing in these incredible international competitions for young artists and is going to be in the highest echelons very, very soon so we’re really lucky that we can get a chance to work with her now.”
“Mission: Prague” will conclude with Mozart’s Prague Symphony, a piece that Selya said Mozart wrote specifically for Prague.
Landmark Columbus Foundation Executive Director Richard McCoy will also make an appearance to present comparisons between the architecture of Prague to the architecture of Columbus.
He said he plans to focus on how pieces in the middle of cities can transform a public space into a meeting area, and one such comparison he plans to share is Prague’s Orloj Clock to Columbus’ Chaos I sculpture, created by Jean Tingley.
“I think they serve parallel functions. Certainly a clock is way different than a sculpture, but they both move and do different things and are bright and colorful and interesting,” McCoy said. “Plus the Orloj Clock has always been fascinating to me, I was fortunate to see it long ago in the square so it’s a bit of a personal thing as well.”
McCoy said he loves the collaboration between the Philharmonic and Landmark Columbus, saying that classical music and architecture have a very natural connection. He said he also appreciates Selya’s contemporary take on classical music and relating it to the people of today.
“I feel like the moves that he’s making with the Philharmonic parallel what we’re doing with Landmark Columbus particularly with our preservation efforts, which is trying to make our work relevant to new audiences and not being stuck in the past,” McCoy said.
