Pavel Sporcl and The Violin Channel to Stream Complete Concerto From Violinist's Home

The latest in the star Czech violinist's series from his home - streamed in collaboration with The Violin Channel - will feature his complete performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, played to pre-recorded backing track.

As a point of principle, during the health crisis which has seen him largely confined to his home like so many of us, Czech violin star Pavel Sporcl has been curating his cycle of streamed concerts ("6x In The Living Room") from his living-room in Prague as meticulously as if they had been planned for Smetana Hall or the Rudolfinum. He has been one of the most active artists in this period of enforced social isolation, with these twice-weekly concerts as well as a daily online music program for children. Each concert has had its own theme, its own flavour and he has constantly tried to push the format forward - last week, for instance, he enlisted the help of favourite colleagues (among them pianist Petr Jirikovsky, soprano Jana Šrejma Kačírková - it also included a new work, Lukas Sommer's The Master and Marguerita) who prerecorded from their own homes for Sporcl to then 'duet' with during the streamed concert (watch that concert here). In that twice-weekly cycle, for which Sporcl dresses formally and invites his viewers to do the same if they choose, the focus has been on chamber music - but no longer. On Friday 10th April at 3pm EDT / 8pm Prague time, in a bold experiment, Sporcl will perform the complete Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, to a prerecorded orchestral track. The performance will be live-streamed by The Violin Channel as part of their own "VC Living Room Live" series, as well as on Sporcl's own social media channels.

Sporcl has previously recorded the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek (Supraphon). Of this living-room performance he says, "In one way of course it's a crazy idea. But on the other hand these are not normal times and we artists have the need to communicate with the works we love, and people need great music very much, perhaps now in these times of isolation, more than ever. A great violin concerto like Tchaikovsky's has a scope and a range that lets people's imaginations and feelings explore even if they physically can't; I hope it will help them feel free. It certainly lets me feel that way as an artist, and just because this is an unusual idea - I believe it may the first time any professional instrumentalist has played a whole concerto in their home with a pre-recorded orchestral track! - does not mean I don't take it seriously. I have already been preparing and practicing as for any concert that I give. I promise that my performance will be the very best I can offer, as if i were again performing it with the Czech Philharmonic, or any orchestra together in the same hall! The audience and the composer deserve no less."

About the link-up with The Violin Channel, he says, "I am very proud to join with The Violin Channel for this live-stream. I have followed and enjoyed them for years and they do a fantastic job of supporting the string-playing community, both for artists and audiences. I am honoured to be part of their series and to play for all my fellow VC followers!" Sporcl's living-room concert series has been watched by tens of thousands of people, as many as 59,000 for a single concert (at the time of writing).

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