Michael J. Evans: The Adventures of Florian Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra & Stanislav Vavřínek

• Michael J. Evans (b. 1964): The Adventures of Florian, Act I:
• 1 The Adventures of Florian, Act I: Opening 01:55
• 2 The Adventures of Florian, Act I: Isabella 04:31
• 3 The Adventures of Florian, Act I: Death 02:44
• 4 The Adventures of Florian, Act I: Transformation 02:26
• 5 The Adventures of Florian, Act I: The Adventure Begins 05:09
• The Adventures of Florian, Act II:
• 6 The Adventures of Florian, Act II: Black Rock Castle 14:04
• 7 The Adventures of Florian, Act II: No Fear 06:17
• 8 The Adventures of Florian, Act II: Gifts 04:28
• 9 The Adventures of Florian, Act II: Into the Unknown 01:43
• The Adventures of Florian, Act III:
• 10 The Adventures of Florian, Act III: Prince Florizel 07:58
• 11 The Adventures of Florian, Act III: The Royal Family 01:27
• 12 The Adventures of Florian, Act III: Gossip 01:26
• 13 The Adventures of Florian, Act III: Loving You 02:31
• 14 The Adventures of Florian, Act III: Flowers and Daggers and Demons 04:54
• The Adventures of Florian, Act IV:
• 15 The Adventures of Florian, Act IV: Only a Mother Could Love 05:26
• 16 The Adventures of Florian, Act IV: I Got You 03:06
• 17 The Adventures of Florian, Act IV: You're Gone 05:39
• 18 The Adventures of Florian, Act IV: I'm Coming for You 03:12
• 19 The Adventures of Florian, Act IV: Love and Hate 02:43
• 20 The Adventures of Florian, Act IV: The Great Escape 05:39
• 21 The Adventures of Florian, Act IV: Transfiguration and Happily Ever Afters 16:01
• Total Runtime 01:43:19

Info for Michael J. Evans: The Adventures of Florian

On his seventh release on Navona Records, THE ADVENTURES OF FLORIAN, Michael J. Evans presents an epic, modern adaptation of Henry Bestons fairytale of the same name. Over the course of four orchestral acts, Evans reframes the story as a tale of trans heroship, with Prince Florizel marrying Florian himself presenting as a boy, rather than revealing Florian as Isabella. Beautifully accessible and poignantly educational, THE ADVENTURES OF FLORIAN brings LGBT characters into the spotlight to improve their representation and educate audiences on the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity. Over the course of the tale, Florian and Florizel display true love for each other and come together as one. Evans enhances the pieces narrative drive with dedicated instrumentation for each character. The oboe represents Isabella until her transition into Florian, at which point he is musically defined by the soprano sax. The powerful Enchanter is heard as a bass trombone, which contrasts with the english horn and shrieking clarinets which represent the Old Witch and her daughter. Finally, Prince Florizel is heard as a trumpet. Evans continues to show his compositional and thematic prowess through his use of themes for Florian and Florizel. Their respective themes are complete and can stand on their own, but when they come together they form a beautiful duet that represents their healthy, loving relationship. Accompanying the music and fairytale are more than a hundred full illustrations by Appoline Etienne, which depict the story and its joyous ending. The colorful, dreamlike imagery perfectly captures the uplifting theme, and helps make the albums message understandable for all ages.

Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra
Stanislav Vavřínek, conductor

Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra
Raising from a Radio Orchestra founded in the mid-wars period when Paul Hindemith, Leoš Janáček, Sergei Prokofiev and Igor Stravinsky frequently visited Ostrava, a big symphony orchestra was launched in 1954. Thanks to demanding artistic direction it soon became one of the leading Czech orchestras and started to tour abroad only two years later (1956). Many world-known conductors and soloist made their artistic attribution to the orchestra since then: Maris Jansons, Serge Baudo, Václav Neumann, Karel Ančerl, Jiří Bělohlávek, Helmuth Rilling, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Iván Fischer; Rudolf Firkušný, Svjatoslav Richter, Frank-Peter Zimmermann, André Navarra and many others.

The Velvet Revolution and the two upcoming decades (90s and 00s) sees the orchestra touring a lot to the West, including tours with the opera stars such as Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Diana Ross or Joseph Calleja in the same time when Christian Arming becomes the youngest Artistic director in the Orchestra`s history.

Stanislav Vavřínek
born 26 February 1972, in Uherské Hradiště, is a Czech conductor and teacher at the department of conducting at the Faculty of Music of the Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in Prague.

Vavřínek first studied flute and conducting at the Brno Conservatory, then he continued his studies at the department of conducting at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in Prague (with Eliška, Vajnar, Štych) and afterward he attended courses by Roberto Benzi in Switzerland. He started his profession in 1994 as the Chief Conductor of the Prague Student Orchestra. Since the beginning of his career he has worked with orchestras including for example the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Philharmonia, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic and with exceptional soloists like Ivan Moravec, Igor Ardašev, Eugen Indjic, Gabriela Beňačková, Eva Urbanová, Dagmar Pecková, Ivan Kusnjer, Radek Baborák, Václav Hudeček, Bohuslav Matoušek, Sophia Jaffé, Jiří Bárta, Milan Svoboda etc. He also appeared as a guest conductor in many European countries and Japan and was a guest at many international music festivals (Prague Autumn, Prague Spring etc.). Between 1999 and 2008 he was the Chief Conductor of the Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra of South Bohemia. Since 2008, he has been the Chief Conductor of the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra and since 2006, a professor at the department of conducting at the Faculty of Music of the Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in Prague.

This album contains no booklet.