Czech Embassy Launches www.mutualinspirations.org

The Embassy of the Czech Republic announces the launching of the Mutual Inspirations Festival website www.mutualinspirations.org, featuring over 20 upcoming events, musical samples, and stories honoring the 170th birthday of composer Antonin Dvorak. The festival begins on September 8, 2011, and ends on October 28, 2011. Take a sneak peak at the calendar of events that highlight local and international artists coming to the Washington, DC community this fall. Please stay posted because additional events will be coming soon to the website calendar!

About the Festival:

The Mutual Inspirations Festival is an initiative spearheaded by the Embassy of the Czech Republic, under the patronage of Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel Schwarzenberg, focusing on the mutual inspirations between Czech and American cultures.

The festival is founded on the idea of giving rise to an "all American community project," taking place at cultural, religious, and educational community centers through a variety of forms, such as music, art, dance, film, and literature. Through the celebration of the work of many famous personalities and the creations of individuals they in turn influenced, the festival aims to depict this long tradition of transatlantic inspiration and interpretation. Each year, the focus of the festival will be on different personalities, for example: Mutual Inspirations Festival 2011 – Antonin Dvorak, Mutual Inspirations Festival 2012 – Milos Forman, etc.

The Mutual Inspirations Festival 2011 – Antonin Dvorak will begin on September 8, 2011, commemorating the 170th anniversary of the birth of the composer, and will end on October 28, 2011, observing Czech National Day. Antonin Dvorak was one of the most prominent Czech classical composers. Due to his revolutionary thinking of the time, Dvorak left a legacy through his students who would later instruct American legends George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, and Aaron Copland. Moreover, taking in the sounds of America, Dvorak was inspired to create his most famous piece—Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, "From the New World," which was listened to by US astronaut Neil Armstrong during man's first landing on the moon.

As one of the highlights of the festival, Dvorak's original manuscripts will return to the United States for the first time in more than a century and presented at the Library of Congress for a one-day display in connection to a symposium and lecture-recital. The Catholic University orchestra will perform the New World Symphony at the National Museum of the American Indian. The Cathedral Choral Society will feature Dvorak's renowned Te Deum at the Washington National Cathedral. Other key events include: a world premiere of a jazz musical program entitled Dvorak and America performed by Washington Musica Viva at the Czech Embassy, and the American premiere of contemporary composer Miroslav Srnka's Homage to Dvorak at the Phillips Collection.

The Avalon Theater will screen Academy Award winning director Milos Forman's film A Walk Worthwhile for one night only on September 14, 2011, at 8 pm. The film, based on the jazz opera of the legendary writing duo Jiri Suchy and Jiri Slitr, was shot during five theatrical shows. Songs from this musical play became renowned in the Czech Republic. The film follows a couple on the brink of divorce until they are bequeathed money for their future child, leading to various escapades to achieve the fortune.
Tickets for the screening may be purchased at the box office or online at www.theavalon.org.

Synopsis: Uli and Vanilka are getting a divorce. They are in the middle of sorting out snags in the divorce proceedings with their attorney when a postman delivers two mysterious telegrams from Liverpool. Vanilka's rich aunt has decided to bequeath to the couple's future child one million pounds. In the wake of this news, Vanilka, Uli, and the others engage in various escapades with the aim of securing this untold wealth for themselves.

For any additional questions concerning the festival, contact maryfetzko@mutualinspirations.org or call 202/274-9105.