The Velvet Revolution was one of the key moments in Europe's recent history. Amongst the wide raging anti-communist movements across Eastern Europe in the second half of November 1989, a series of events occurred in what was then Czechoslovakia, following a shift in political power and the transition from communism to democracy. All this with minimal violence, which led to giving a name to the movement that evokes fineness and elegance: the Velvet Revolution. Marked on the 17^th of November in the Czech Republic, it is the occasion behind the concert performed by the Czech Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra.

On the Rudolfinum stage in Prague, the musicians will perform to the audience a very well-known work by Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.2, the Resurrection. The soloists performing will be soprano Lucy Crowe and mezzo-soprano Okka von der Damerau, with Sakari Oramo conducting the evening. The connection with ''rebirth'' is meant not in a political sense, but in a socio-cultural one, to the extent that the transition from a totalitarian regime to democracy can be seen as a conversion from spiritual slumber to the light of freedom. If the programme's title is a clue, the ''Annual Concert for Freedom and Democracy'' is likely linked to Mahler's second symphonic work, created in the spirit of the ongoing search for meaning inherent to the human condition.

You will be able to listen to this concert live, on our channel's frequencies, as part of the European Stage programme, on Monday from 21:00 - a perfect occasion to (re) familiarize yourself with this astonishing mahlerian score.