Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra

Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra ( Czech Moravská filharmonie Olomouc ) is a Czech symphony orchestra based in Olomouc . It was founded in 1945.

The orchestra was created immediately after the liberation of Czechoslovakia from the German occupation and gave its first concert on May 26, 1945, performing Bedřich Smetana 's symphonic poem “ My Country ”. The first leader of the orchestra, Dalibor Doubek , headed the amateur orchestra in the city over the previous year. The new collective included musicians from several previously active teams in Olomouc, as well as visiting performers (especially from Ceske Budejovice ). In the season 1945-1946. the orchestra joined with 52 musicians, and its program combined works of Tchaikovsky , Berlioz , Debussy , Respighi , Czech composers. In the next decade, the Czech repertoire expanded, and the Viennese classics were preferred in the international repertoire. In 1950, the orchestra took part for the first time in the Prague Spring music festival, in 1958 the orchestra went on its first foreign tour to Poland, a year later it made an Italian tour with four symphonies and five piano concerts by Ludwig van Beethoven (soloist Jan Panenka ). A fresh impetus to the development of the orchestra was given by those who worked in it in 1963-1967. the second conductor Zdenek Matsal (he, in particular, founded a chamber composition at the orchestra). With the participation of the orchestra in Olomouc since 1969, the International Organ Festival has been held. In 1979, the orchestra recorded its first disc (works by Bohuslav Martinou and Isha Kreichi ).