The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech, ...
: ''Filharmonici města Prahy'') is a classical orchestra, predominantly composed of Czech
classical,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
and guest musicians.
The history of the orchestra goes back to the
Film Symphony Orchestra (FISYO), which was founded shortly after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, in 1947 as the in-house orchestra for the huge
Barrandov Film Studios
Barrandov Studios is a set of film studios in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the largest film studio in the country and one of the largest in Europe.
Several major Hollywood productions have been made here, including '' Mission Impossible'', ' ...
. After separating and fully privatized it initially performed under the name ''Czech Symphony Orchestra'', but had problems with unauthorized use of the name by other Czech ensembles for themselves. Finally in 1992, after the
Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...
, music producer James Fitzpatrick came up with its current name.
The orchestra is drawn from musicians of the
State Opera and the Czech National Theatre, and most of its concerts take place at the opera house.
Recording
The orchestra play and record music for every type of orchestral project including CD albums, major international films, television series, video games and even ringtones — both for the Czech Republic market but chiefly for clients and media productions all around the world. The orchestra plays more than 250 recording sessions every year and that makes it one of the most recorded and respected orchestras in the world. Also the orchestra recorded many international movie scores. Recordings have been made for film production companies such as
Paramount
Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to:
Entertainment and music companies
* Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...
,
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
,
Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is a business segment of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is best known for creating and producing the ''Star Wars'' and ' ...
and many others at Smecky Music Studios.
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...
returned again in 1997 to record his ''
Lost Highway'', and yet again in 2001 to record ''
Mulholland Drive
Mulholland Drive is a street and road in the eastern Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. It is named after pioneering Los Angeles civil engineer William Mulholland. The western rural portion in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties is nam ...
''. Credit list consists of acclaimed composer names like
Alexandre Desplat
Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat (; born 23 August 1961) is a French film composer and conductor. He has won many awards, including two Academy Awards, for his musical scores to the films ''The Grand Budapest Hotel'' and ''The Shape of Water'', ...
,
Rachel Portman
Rachel Mary Berkeley Portman,
FilmReference.com
,
Jeff Danna
Jeff Danna is an award-winning Canadian film composer. He has composed or co-composed scores for a wide range of films and television, including '' The Boondock Saints'' (1999), '' Resident Evil: Apocalypse'' (2004), '' Silent Hill'' (2006)'', Th ...
,
Ludovic Bource
Ludovic Bource (; born 19 August 1970 in Pontivy) is a French composer best known for his work in film scoring. He rose to international critical acclaim in 2011 for composing the Golden Globe- and Academy Award-winning score for '' The Artist' ...
,
Gabriel Yared
Gabriel Yared (Arabic: غبريال يارد; born 7 October 1949) is a Lebanese-French composer, best known for his work in French and American cinema.
Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Yared scored the French films ''Betty Blue'' and ''Camille Claud ...
,
Steven Lebetkin
Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...
,
Steve Barakatt
Steve Barakatt (born May 17, 1973) is a Canadian composer, music producer, pianist, singer and creative director. He was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 2020 and he is a former National Ambassador of UNICEF Canada.
Early years ...
and many more. They also created
Leading Britain's Conversation
LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadcast ...
's primary jingle.
Hybrid (British band)
Hybrid is a British electronic music duo consisting of Mike and Charlotte Truman. The group was formed in 1995 by Mike Truman, Chris Healings, and Lee Mullin. At the time they were primarily known as a breakbeat collective, although they overla ...
worked with the orchestra on their studio albums
Disappear Here (Hybrid album) Disappear Here may refer to:
* ''Disappear Here'' (Silver Sun album), 2005
* ''Disappear Here'' (Hybrid album), 2010
* ''Disappear Here'' (Bad Suns album), 2016
* ''Disappear Here'' (EP), a 1992 EP by Peach
* ''Disappear Here'', a 2005 album by ...
and
Light of the fearless
Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 ter ...
, as did the band
Enter Shikari
Enter Shikari (stylised as enter: shikari and occasionally as ΣΠΤΣ℞ SΗΦΚ∆℞Φ) are a British rock band formed in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England in 1999 by bassist Chris Batten, lead vocalist and keyboardist Rou Reynolds, and drum ...
for the song Elegy For Extinction on their record
Nothing is True & Everything is Possible
''Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible'' is the sixth studio album by English rock band Enter Shikari, released on 17 April 2020 through Ambush Reality and SO Recordings.
Background and production
British rock band Enter Shikari released th ...
released in 2020.
Concerts
In recent years the orchestra has performed many concerts of classical and film music repertoire throughout Europe but especially Germany, where it is the “in house” orchestra for Klassik Radio. Now, with the international acclaim for their prize winning recordings, the orchestra is receiving requests for more and more live concerts around the world. These requests peaked with the orchestra performing in front of an audience of 20,000 in Santiago, Chile with conductor Nic Raine and guest soloist
Itzhak Perlman.
External links
*
Official studio website
References
*
The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra on allmusic.com
{{Authority control
Czech orchestras
Musical groups established in 1947
1947 establishments in Czechoslovakia