News
Affetto will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a charity concert for the Wheelchair League
The vocal-experimental group Affetto celebrates 20 years since its founding. The Wheelchair League (Liga vozíčkářů), which the ensemble will support as part of the charity concert, will celebrate the 30th anniversary of its existence. The joint celebration promises a musical performance accompanied by texts written by writers Ivan Jergl and Václav Uher. more
The Brno National Theatre presented the premiere shows of the new season
The upcoming opera season will start with the 7th Janáček Brno Festival. At that festival, the NdB Janáček Opera Ensemble will present the premiere of Janáček's opera Osud [Destiny] directed by Robert Carsten, which will open the festival. The second title will be Její pastorkyňa [Jenufa] under the direction of Claus Guth. His production team from London will also come with the acclaimed performer of Janáček's roles, Karita Mattila, who will render the role of Kostelnička. The opera ensemble is heading for a total of five premieres in the new season. The NdB Ballet will present Beethoven as the first premiere title of the season. The production with music by Ludwig van Beethoven, with choreography and direction of Mário Radačovský, will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the birth of the composer. Jaroslav Milfajt and Ľudmila Várossová will take care of the stage and costume designs. The next title will be Stabat Mater with choreography by Pavel Šmok. more
The large courtyard of Špilberk Castle will host a double gig of the bands Monkey Business and J.A.R. in May this year. The concert is being prepared by the Fléda music club. more
Brno's music scene has been growing recently, expanding with a new festival. Pop Messe focuses on young popular music. The programme of the first season promises names such as Modeselektor, Algiers, Acid Arab, KOKOKO!, Sóley and many others. The two-day festival will take place in July 2020 in the premises of Bobycentrum and the former football stadium behind Lužánky Park. more
Ivo Kahánek and Bamberger Symphoniker led by Jakub Hrůša nominated for BBC Music Magazine Award
BBC Music Magazine nominated an album of piano concertos by Antonín Dvořák and Bohuslav Martinů among the best recordings of the year. The winner of the award will be decided by voting of listeners from around the world by 19 February 2020. more
Janáček Opera begins the year 2020 with a world premiere of the opera The Monument
The Janáček Opera ensemble is preparing the world premiere of a piece written specifically for it. The Monument is a tailor-made work for the stage of the Janáček Theatre, a big orchestra, ten soloists and three choirs: the opera choir, the Czech Academic Choir and the Brno Children's Choir. The opera production is being created under the direction of David Radok, who also wrote the libretto, while the music was written by the composer and chief conductor of the Brno opera ensemble Marko Ivanović. Svatopluk Sem, Markéta Cukrová, Roman Hoza and others will appear as soloists. more
VUS Ondráš hires new dancers
The Ondráš Military Art Ensemble is hiring a dancer for the professional section of its ensemble. Expected start of employment is 3 February 2020. more
National Security Council cancelled all cultural events for more than 100 participants
The National Security Council today decided to cancel all sporting, cultural and religious events for more than 100 participants with effect from tonight, 10 March 2020. more
Brno Philharmonic: Pictures at an Exhibition will be accompanied by visualisations of Cori O'Lan
This Thursday and Friday, Brno Philharmonic will present a programme entitled Pictures at an Exhibition, which will feature three great music pieces accompanied by visualisations of Cori O´Lan. These were created in collaboration with Ars Electronica, an organisation focusing on the use of latest technologies in art. The concerts will be conducted by Dennis Russell Davies. more
Singer Eva Pilarová, a native of Brno, died today 14 March 2020. She was 80 years old. more
Another of the jazz evenings regularly organised by the Brno Philharmonic was dedicated to the duo Will Vinson (alto saxophone) and Aaron Parks (piano). These musicians have been working together in various formations for twenty years. So they decided that it was time to try the most intimate and, according to many, the most difficult - playing as a mere duo. These mid-generation jazz musicians performed a selection of classical jazz material as well as several of their own compositions on Monday 10 March at the Besední dům. more
This year's first concert by the Brno Contemporary Orchestra from the Auscultation series was entitled Gastro (Cuisine), or Dinner for Magdalena Dobromila Rettig (1785-1845). On Sunday, 2 February, the orchestra performed two compositions, or rather performances and happenings by Ondřej Adámek (*1979), who also conducted the pieces, in the dining room of the Masaryk Student House. This was a fairly unusual situation for the audience, when conductor Pavel Šnajdr did not take his place at the head of the orchestra. more
The fourth concert in the Brno Philharmonic's Philharmonic at Home subscription series, subtitled Metamorphoses and conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, was dedicated to works by Joseph Haydn, Antonín Rejcha and Richard Strauss. Pianist Ivan Ilić was originally scheduled to appear as soloist in Rejcha's Piano Concerto, but for health reasons he cancelled the concert. Jan Bartoš promptly took over, enabling the audience to hear the original programme on Thursday 30 January at the Besední dům. more
The Brno Philharmonic's New Year's concert on 1 January at the Janáček Theatre is already a well-established tradition. This year was no exception, and the orchestra, led by conductor Michel Tabachnik, gave a performance consisting mainly of works by Johann Strauss the Younger. This was the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra's show opening the 'Strauss Year'. After all, 2025 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of the composer, dubbed the king of waltzes. Strauss's compositions were accompanied by works by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Richard Strauss and Dimitri Shostakovich. more
"Culture is a Bridge" was the theme of the second Czech-Austrian Partnership Concert, held on Friday, 20 December at Schloss Thalheim. It was the final evening of the 5th year of the pan-European project Czech Dreams 2024, and also part of the celebrations of the Year of Czech Music and the Concentus Moraviae international music festival. Culture is a bridge that connects not only different generations and social classes, but also entire nations. And the Czech Dreams project, which in 2024 alone presented music by Czech composers in 25 European cities in 17 different countries, is an eloquent example of this. In December alone, besides the final concert in Austria, six more concerts were performed in southern Europe, from Amarante in Portugal to Varaždin in Croatia. The concert was dedicated to the Lower Austrian Governor Erwin Pröll, who has long been committed to building and deepening relations between the Czech Republic and Austria. more
