News
A cycle of mini-operas entitled Mluvící dobytek a tajemné kosti [Talking Cattle and Mysterious Bones] was written by court diverse authors – composer Ondřej Kyas and librettist Pavel Drábek. The Ensemble Opera Diversa will present a restored premiere of these "Elbe horrorroperras" in a new production by Kateřina Reichová. more
The international groove, jazz and funky festival enters its 12th season. For example, the group Dirty Loops will return to Brno to launch the festival. During October, bands from Sweden, USA, Great Britain, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands and our neighbouring Slovakia will come to Brno. This year's festival hosts mostly female performers such as saxophonist Candy Dulfer, Judith Hill with her band or Danish bass guitar player Ida Nielsen. Tickets for the festival are already on sale. more
The poet, musician, publisher and organizer of underground festivals Jaroslav Erik Frič has died this morning. more
The Dokořán festival aims its focus most of all on music theatre. Under the auspices of the Brno City Theatre, this year it hosts eleven domestic and foreign theatre companies. The programme includes Czech premieres, concerts, street theatre and a charity market. Part of the festival's production will also take place in the Divadlo na Orlí theatre or in the Brno City Theatre courtyard. more
Kupodivu is releasing a new album named Živočišné pudy
The Brno funk-folk group Kupodivu [Surprisingly Enough] is releasing an album named Živočišné pudy [Animal Instincts]. After the EP's Písně kapesní [Pocket Songs] (2014) and Kupodivu [Surprisingly Enough] (2017), this is already their third serial record. The album contains 13 songs. The launch of the CD will take place at ArtBar Druhý Pád. more
The Young Gods, representatives of industrial rock, will visit the Czech Republic once again and come to Brno. This Swiss trio will bring their album Data Mirage Tangram. This record, full of audio experiments, is now being released after a nine-year break. The band's founding member, programmer Cesare Pizzi, who has now returned to the band, also contributed to the recording of the album. more
Ghettofest 2019: Please The Trees, Čankišou, Candish and more
The Ghettofest Street Festival takes place in an excluded location known as the "Bronx of Brno", for which this socio-cultural concept has been created. The whole event opens the boundaries of the imaginary "ghetto", encouraging natural encounters and coexistence in one city. The dramaturgically varied programme features concerts, workshops and guided tours of the neighbourhood. The festival stages will feature Čankišou, Candish, Feri And The Gipsies, Please The Trees and a lot more. more
Summer Evenings at Bishop's Court with NdB Ballet
The National Theatre Brno Ballet is preparing for an open-air performance. The Bishop's Court will host the traditional Summer Ballet Cocktail. more
The autumn Echoes of JazzFestBrno will take place for the sixth time in a row. This year they will belong to pianists. One of the most prominent representatives of contemporary Asian music production, Hiromi Uehara from Japan, will appear. Her show will be followed by a concert of the American jazzman Aaron Parks, who will appear in Brno in the role of bandleader with a project entitled Little Big. In the second part of the evening, Shai Maestro will perform with his trio. more
As the last of the opera premieres of this season, the NdB will present a production by one of the leading Czech directors, David Radok, who is returning to follow up on Modrovousův hrad/ Očekávání [Modrovous's Castle / Expectations]. This production combines two one-act works: Martinů's Three Fragments of Juliette and Poulenc's Human Voice. Radok is also the author of stage design. The musical production of the opera was led by the chief conductor of the Janáček Opera of the National Theatre Brno, Marko Ivanović. The main role will be performed by Jana Šrejma Kačírková, who will portray both Juliette and The Woman in Human Voice. The Danish tenor Magnus Vigilius is also returning to the Brno stage, this time in the role of Michele. The performance has been co-produced with the Swedish Opera in Gothenburg. more
On Saturday, 24 August, the Korean radio orchestra KBS Symphony Orchestra with its musical director - Finnish conductor and violinist Pietari Inkinen - came to Brno's Špilberk Festival with an exclusively romantic repertoire. The invitation was also accepted by South Korean violinist Bomsori Kim, a graduate of the prestigious Julliard School. more
For a quarter of a century now, the Brno Philharmonic has been organising the Špilberk Festival at the end of August in the courtyard of the castle of the same name. Four open-air musical evenings offer the audience a selection of concerts featuring classical, film and computer music, as well as often jazz and other genres. This makes it a diverse mix of performers and repertoires with an often pleasant, summery, laid-back ambience. This year's big and rapdily sold-out attraction was the Wednesday evening of 21 August, full of melodies from the James Bond films, performed by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, headed by world-renowned conductor, composer and arranger Steven Mercurio. During the concert, the audience also got to enjoy singers Sara Milfajtová, Vendula Příhodová and David Kraus. more
As part of its European tour, the Taiwanese Taipei Philharmonic Chamber Choir (TPCC), under the direction of artistic director and choirmaster Dr. YuChung Johnny Ku, took the city up on its invitation and visited Brno. The concert was held on Monday, 13th August in the hall of the newly renovated Passage Hotel. more
The final concert of this year's season of the Brno Philharmonic was devoted to works by Antonín Dvořák and Jean Sibelius at the Janáček Theatre. On Thursday, 20 June, Danish conductor Michael Schønwandt, who had not appeared before a Brno audience since January last year, took the lead of the Philharmonic. In the first half of the programme, the orchestra was accompanied by violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky. more
In the spirit of the idea that Brno and folklore belong together, the Folklore Ensemble Happening of the Year took place on Thursday 6 June. The event was organised by the Brno UNESCO City of Music Office in cooperation with the Brno Dances and Sings association. The event thus became part of a long-term project that set out to map the amateur music scene in Brno, and not only folk music. Last year Brno City of Music reached out to choirs in a similar way, and in the future will host garage bands and more. This just goes to prove the diversity of Brno's music scene, not only as regards professional ensembles, but also enthusiastic amateurs for whom music is an inseparable part of their lives. more
