Adam Znamirovský shone in the Rudolfinum alongside the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra
On Monday 17 March 2025, the Dvořák Hall at the Rudolfinum became the venue for an exceptional concert of the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra. Works by Grażyny Bacewicz, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Sergei Prokofiev were performed under the leadership of the German conductor Elias Grandy.
One of the highlights of the evening was the performance by the fifteen-year-old pianist Adam Znamirovský, the winner of the 2023 Concertino Praga - Antonín Dvořák International Radio Competition for Young Musicians, part of whose main prize included participation at the concert. He introduced himself with Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”. This young talent, who can boast numerous international successes despite his young age, astonished the audience with his precise playing and deep feeling for the music.
“The soloist – in a composition that is famed for its technical demands – was the fifteen-year-old (!) pianist Adam Znamirovský. Adam has studied with Markéta Cibulková at the Jižní Město Arts Primary School in Prague since he was five. He has participated in around thirty domestic and international piano competitions, where he has frequently won the first prize. He is an exceptionally distinctive personality and just the way in which embarked upon the theme of the variations with such an uncompromising rhythmic charge made it readily apparent who was in charge in this work. Znamirovský has a unique technique that often seems to lie beyond the bounds of human ability. The technique is not, of course, self-taught and indeed it does not seem to be the pianist’s only goal. However, it is thanks to it that Adam is able to form his vision of how Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody should sound. The young artist played the entire piece in absolute and deep concentration and it seemed as if nothing and nobody could have disturbed him.”, stated Věroslav Němec in his review of the concert for Klasika plus. “The audience rewarded the riveting performance of the Rhapsody with an enthusiastic standing ovation. And after such a wonderful (and no doubt exhausting) performance, Adam Znamirovský added Rachmaninoff’s transcription of the Flight of the Bumblebee from the opera Fairy Tale of the Czar Saltán by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. He played it brilliantly at a threshold tempo and in doing so simply confirmed that he is one of the most promising piano talents today. It will definitely be interesting to follow where his career takes him”, he added.
The concert was broadcast live on Czech Radio’s Vltava station and subsequently as a recording on Czech Radio's D-dur station. The full auditorium and the audience’s enthusiastic response attested to the fact that this was an exceptional musical experience. The meeting of this talented soloist with an excellent conductor and an attractive program gave rise to an evening full of joy and inspiration.