LVMF 2025 Final Gala

The final gala concert of the festival will be the first time that the Slovak Philharmonic will perform. The evening opens with Aaron Copland’s Fanfare of an Ordinary Man, followed by Zoltán Kodály’s Dances from Galánta, E. W. Korngold’s Violin Concerto and the festival will close with the Symphony “From the New World” Antonín Dvořák. Conducted by Tomáš Brauner, tonight’s soloist is American violinist Joshua Brown.

Slovak Philharmonic

Slovak Philharmonic was founded in 1949. Two prominent figures of international musical life were at its artistic birth – Václav Talich (1949–1952) and Ľudovít Rajter (1949–1976). Since the 2020/2021 season, Daniel Raiskin has held the position of chief conductor.

Among the many guest conductors who have collaborated with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra are internationally renowned personalities such as János Ferencsik, Witold Rowicki, Václav Smetáček, Karel Ančerl, Václav Neumann, Hermann Abendroth, Alberto Erede, Sir Eugene Goossens, Sir Claudio Abbado, Kurt Masur, Charles Mackerras, Sergiu Celibidache, Neeme Järvi, Mariss Jansons, Fabio Luisi, Yehudi Menuhin, Jiří Bělohlávek, Jakub Hrůša, Tomáš Hanus, Juraj Valčuha, Tomáš Netopil and many others. The orchestra has also collaborated with composers who have interpreted their own works, such as Jean Martinon, Krzysztof Penderecki and Aram Khachaturian.

The Slovak Philharmonic has made numerous recordings for radio, television and music labels OPUS, Supraphon, Panton, Hungaroton, JVC Victor, RCA, Pacific Music, Naxos and Marco Polo. It regularly performs on prestigious European stages and festivals, as well as in Cyprus, Turkey and the USA. It has undertaken concert tours in Japan, South Korea, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

Tomáš Brauner (conductor)

She studied singing at the Pardubice Conservatory and the Faculty of Music at the JAMU in Brno, completed an internship at the Hochschule für Musik in Dresden and participated in several master classes with personalities from the opera world.

As a soloist, she has performed at many European festivals, collaborated with Czech and foreign orchestras and currently performs mainly with Collegium 1704.

She sang the role of Nicandro in Antonio Vivaldi’s opera Arsilda directed by David Radok under the baton of Václav Luks and also performed the role of Galatea in Handel’s opera Acis and Galatea at the Tage Alter Musik festival in Regensburg.

In 2019, she went on a concert tour in Portugal, Brazil and Peru with the Duo Siempre Nuevo group, premiered a number of song cycles by Luboš Sluka and songs by Lukáš Sommer, František Chaloupka and Miloš Štědroň were composed specifically for her voice.

She recorded Seven Songs on Words by F. L. Čelakovský by Pavel Haas, Singing to Children and Flower Speech by Luboš Sluka and Celebration Jazz Mass by Karel Růžička.

Joshua Brown (violin)

Joshua Brown is a critically acclaimed violinist. He is renowned for his rich sound, elegant interpretation, and absolute devotion to the piece (La Libre). He gained international attention by winning 2nd Prize and both Audience Prizes at the 2024 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. His other achievements include 1st Prize at the 2023 Global Music Education International Violin Competition in Beijing and 1st Prize with Audience Prize at the 2019 Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition in Augsburg.

Joshua made his debut with the Cleveland Orchestra, of which Cleveland Classical wrote:
“Brilliantly played and masterfully constructed, Brown’s performance explored every emotional nuance… it was captivating throughout.” He regularly performs with the world’s leading orchestras and appears at prestigious festivals and concert stages around the world.

Joshua received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music under Professor Donald Weilerstein and is currently completing his postgraduate studies there. He previously studied with Almita and Roland Vamos at the Music Institute of Chicago.

Joshua plays a rare violin by Nicolò Amati of Cremona (c. 1635–1640), on loan to him by the Mary B. Galvin Foundation and Stradivari Society, an organization that supports top string players by providing them with masterful instruments that would otherwise be unavailable.