Jan Špaček
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Thursday’s successful concert of the Brno Philharmonic in Besední dům was sure to please virtually everyone, listeners of different ages and tastes. And the enthusiasm was felt in the hall, even though the piano was sometimes played with the entire width of the forearm. more
It is like the state budget: It can be considered the budget of any new government only two years after its election. This applies in all aspects, starting from the perspective of an idea and ending with the purely practical, i.e. technical, promotional and organisational perspective. Two years ago, the Janáček Brno Festival was the proverbial tipping point. The new director of the organiser Brno National Theatre had only been in office for a year and the opera director Jiří Heřman for six months. A lot of change was going on at Brno City Hall (which remains the only major benefactor of large music and theatre institutions; it seems like this does not concern the regions and the state) and the existing dramaturgical nature of the event was dismantled after the festival. After two years, the concert series can be seen as a series of alternating successes, however, with some worrying symptoms of amateurism. more
The Concentus Moravie – an annual music festival of a number of iconic and historically significant towns in South Moravia and the adjacent districts, including Austria – was held for the 21st time. Even after two decades, the entire event seems to be a bit of a revelation and it is difficult to find a suitable comparison. more
On the eve of St. Nicholas Day, the Janacek Opera brought the second of the four major premieres of this season to the Janacek Theatre - Smetana's "simple traditional" opera The Kiss (Hubička). After Jenůfa from the beginning of October, this opera closes the premiere offer of the traditional Czech opera for this season; what is more important, however, is that it opens a four-part show of new works by the greatest talents of the rising generation of Czech opera direction. more
