Six seasons ago we treated ourselves to a stage full of artists from the Czech Republic, and reveled in the unbounded artistry and exuberance of these nine wonderful players—yes, yes! Nonet! Back by popular demand is one of the oldest and most original chamber ensembles in the world. Founded in 1924 by a group of students of the Prague Conservatory with the instrumentation of Louis Spohr's Nonet (violin, viola, violoncello, contrabass and the wind quintet), the Czech Nonet was quickly recognized as both an important interpreter of classic repertoire and an ardent champion of new music, inspiring the composition of more than 300 works by some of the world's greatest composers, including Prokofiev, Lutoslawski, Martinů, etc.

The Czech Nonet has performed at many prominent international music festivals, including Salzburger Festspiele, Edinburgh, Montreux, Schleswig-Holstein, La Folle journée de Nantes, Festival de Música de Canarias, and Prague Spring and has made numerous concert tours round Europe, North and South Americas, Japan, and Africa, performing at many world-famous venues, such as Musikverein,Vienna; Montreaux Auditorium Stravinski; the Munich Herkulessaal; the Auditorio de Zaragoza; the Lyon Auditorium; the Washington Library of Congress; the Vancouver Playhouse; and Dvorak Hall at the Prague Rudolphinum. The Czech Nonet's rich discography has been recorded by the Supraphon, Panton, and Harmonia Mundi recording companies, on 45 LPs and CDs.
For recordings made for the Praga Digital´s French publisher (with the Harmonia Mundi worldwide distribution network), with whom the Czech Nonet held an exclusive contract in 1995, the Czech Nonet has gained many prestigious awards. The recording with the Nonet by Bohuslav Martinů was awarded the highest prize—10 du Répértoire—by the prestigious review magazine Répértoire in 1996. In 2003, the Beethoven recordings gained the Choc du Monde de la Musique award. For the Praga Digital´s, the Czech Nonet has recorded compositions by Brahms, Mozart, Roussel, Prokofiev, Spohr, and Dvořák, among others.

Please note: the Czech Nonet will perform an entirely different program from ours on the evening preceding, Oct. 25, in BSU's Special Events Center on the Student Union Performance Series—make it a double!

For more information, visit their website: http://nonet.cz/en/nonet