After two years of planning and preparation, and thanks to the generous hosting provided by the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, it is my pleasure to invite you to a unique concert, which  will take place on the 26th of May at 7.30pm at the outstanding new London venue, Milton Court Concert Hall.  The concert will celebrate the music and life of Czech composer Pavel Haas. Pavel Haas (21 June 1899 – 17 October 1944) was a Czech-Jewish composer, pupil of Leoš Janáček, who perished in Auschwitz after spending nearly three years of detention in the Terezín.  The family of the Brno shoe merchant Zikmund Haas has given Czech culture two important artists – the composer Pavel and his brother Hugo, one of the most beloved actors of the pre-war Czech cinema. ” Haas, as the only one in the group around Janáček begins his composition career already in the conditions of the new Czechoslovak state, in the atmosphere of unprecedented influences from the new impulses of the contemporary musical world. So it is not a surprise that more than his older colleagues Haas loosens the ties with the tradition and becomes an enthusiastic believer in the new directions, the most experimenting, the bravest “Janáčkian”. None of Janáček’s pupils stand as close to their master as Pavel Haas. Haas is not a follower, but a true successor: through Janáček he is connected to the tradition of the Czech music, but with his entire being he is drawn somewhere else than Janáček, and becomes a link between him and the modern Western European music.” Lubomír Peduzzi, musicologist, Haas’s biographer. The audience will be treated to the UK premiere of Haas’s youthful chamber music piece Fata Morgana, a composition inspired by the love poems of Rabindranath Tagore.  The programme also includes Haas’s seminal song cycles – the Four Songs on Chinese Poetry, composed in Terezín, and earlier song cycles characterised by their connections to the Moravian folk melodies and jazzy rhythms as well as composer’s early interest in Chinese poetry, to which he returned during the final chapter of his life. Performed by a stellar group of young talents under the direction of Valešová, who will perform all piano parts, this promises to be a one-off opportunity to hear a lovingly crafted evening of music by Pavel Haas. You can find more information and a booking form on the following website: http://ladavalesova.wix.com/homage-to-pavel-haas . Please feel free to forward this invitation and the link above to your friends, who might be interested in attending. Thank you! Admission is free, but booking is kindly requested either through the website or directly on haasconcert@gmail.com.  We hope you will be free to join us on this wonderful occasion!   We are currently fundraising for the recording project of these programme. If you wish to support this project, please contact me on the email address above. There are various methods how you can make a donation or contribute to the project. Thank you.