News
The Kabinet múz will be hosting a legend of the Czech alternative scene. The band Už jsme doma (“We’re home already”) will be presenting its new album after gap of eight years, Kry (“Icebergs”). more
Frog Biscuits is the first official album of the ensemble Playground English. The album contains 27 songs for children in English ranging from simple nursery rhymes to more complicated tales. This disc brought out under Indies Scope is not only useful for teaching English but at the same time is fully and album of music to be listened to. The production of the album Frog Biscuits was the work of Ondřej Galuška (Eggnoise and The Odd Gifts). more
The regular concerts by the band Funky Chicken have slowly transformed into a mini-festival, where the Funkshmakers Jindra Holubec y Amigoos and Funky Chicken will be performing, together with the dance rhythm of Dj Mik-mik from Equipe Animazione and Dj Ntkz from Bassinfection. Funky Night will take place in the large auditorium of the ArtBar Druhý Pád theatre. more
The Janáček Theatre Opens with a Premiere of the Opera The Cunning Little Vixen
The ceremonial opening of the Janáček Theatre is approaching. The theatre will be opening after reconstruction with a premiere of the opera The Cunning Little Vixen, which will also open the 6th year of the Janáček Brno 2018 international opera and music festival, which this year is dedicated to the centenary of the founding of the republic. In the course of the festival all the stage works Leoš Janáček will be performed in productions by such world-famous figures as Ivo van Hove, Robert Carsen, Kornél Mundruczó and Alvis Hermanis. Tomáš Hanus, Tomáš Netopil and Marko Ivanović will be taking their places on the conductor’s podium. The operatic production of The Cunning Little Vixen is the work of the director Jiří Heřman and the musical staging is by Marko Ivanović. The title roles will be taken by Jana Šrejma Kačírková or Michaela Kušteková, Václava Krejčí Housková alternating with Jana Hrochová and Svatopluk Sem with Jiří Sulženek. The public celebratory ceremony will begin on the piazzetta in front of the Janáček Theatre. more
Musica Florea: A stage performance of the overture My Home by A. Dvořák
Musica Florea is continuing to discover the original sound of romantic instruments in the studying and recording of Dvořák’s symphonies. This year the orchestra is performing the 4th symphony of Antonín Dvořák, which will be introduced by the overture Můj domov (My Homeland), op. 62. more
Brno Celebrates the Republic with Austrian Gendarmes
A Century Later or How the Republic was Declared in Brno. An event being set up in cooperation between the Brno Philharmonic and the Theatre Goose on a String. On 29 October they will jointly celebrate the declaration of independence of the republic. The date is that of the official declaration of the republic in Brno, which took place with a delay of one day. The event will be accompanied by a theatrical tour of Besední dům. more
The singer-songwriter Thom Artway is christening his new album in Brno
Thom Artway will be christening his second original album All I Know in Kabinet Múz. Vera Jonas Music will be a guest in a concert. more
JazzFestBrno and Poysdorf Jazz Wine invite talented young musicians to participate in the Central European Jazz Competition. Only a few days are left to the closing date for young Czech and Austrian bands. The competition is being organised jointly by the festivals JazzFestBrno and Poysdorf Jazz & Wine. more
The Cotatcha Orchestra Big Band Performs with the Dutch Trombonist Ilja Reijngoud
The Czech big band Cotatcha Orchestra is preparing to realise their main project of the season. They will be giving three concerts with the Dutch trombonist Ilja Reijngoud, who will be involved as musician, composer and arranger. more
The Folk Ensemble Javorník Brno: Singing at the Cimbalom
The folk ensemble Brno is holding another musical evening accompanied by Cimbálové muziky Mirka Otáhala. The evening’s guests are Aleš Slanina and Jiří Mach, actors from the Brno City Theatre. more
The now world-famous Swedish band Dirty Loops finished their autumn European tour on Saturday, 30 November at Brno's Metro Music Bar. The band featured on the programme of the seventeenth annual Groove Brno funk, soul and jazz festival. The virtuoso trio, consisting of Jonah Nilsson - vocals and keyboards, Henrik Linder - bass guitar and Aron Mellergård - drums, are famous for their flawless technical proficiency, sophisticated original compositions and cover versions of well-known numbers, especially pop songs. However, these songs are often reharmonised in their arrangements and the style is more a combination of disco, pop and jazz fusion. To avoid having to resort to using pre-recorded backing tracks, the trio was joined on tour by keyboardist and vocalist Kristian Kraftling. more
Ensemble Opera Diversa put a distinctive "spin" on its last orchestral concert of the year. It took place on 26 November at the Alterna music club, which is more a rock, electronica and indie pop hangout than an artistic music venue. The pair of selected pieces consisting of Vojtěch Dlask's premièred work Querell Songs for soprano saxophone and strings and Miloslav Ištvan's Hard Blues for pop-baritone, soprano, reciter and chamber ensemble also reflected this. Naturally, it was Ištvan's Hard Blues that gave the evening its name - the clash of the artistic, composed and purposefully "artistic" world (not meant pejoratively) with authentic African-American musical expressions springing from the depths of the soul of a man tested by life formed as the centre of the evening. This was not merely a stylistic inspiration, but more thematic, which was also evident in the opening piece of the evening. This was the composition Querelle Songs, inspired by Jean Genet's novel, previously dedicated to Ensemble Opera Diversa, but this time in a new instrumentation. more
Leoš Janáček's (1854-1928) Moravian national opera Jenůfa was brought to Brno for the Janáček Brno 2024 festival by the Moravian Theatre Olomouc in a co-production with the Janáček Opera NdB. Rather than using the Czech title Její pastorkyňa, the production team, headed by director Veronika Kos Loulová, decided to stage the work as Jenůfa, the name under which it is performed abroad. On Wednesday, 20 November, five days after its première in Olomouc, the audience at the Mahen Theatre could also see the latest domestic take on Janáček's most widely performed opera. The musical staging of the significantly modified original version from 1904 was the work of conductor Anna Novotná Pešková, and the main roles were played by Barbora Perná (Jenůfa), Eliška Gattringerová (Kostelnička), Josef Moravec (Laca Klemeň) and Roman Hasymau (Števa Buryja). more
The office of Brno - UNESCO City of Music, with the financial support of the South Moravian Region, presents a line-up of active folklore groups (ensembles, chasers, musics) in the Brno region as part of the Year of Folklore Ensembles. more
Trumpeter Jiří Kotača founded the big band Cotatcha Orchestra ten years ago. Nowadays, he performs a variety of programmes ranging from the most traditional jazz to a visionary fusion of jazz and electronica. We chatted with Jiří Kotača about how the orchestra has gradually developed, how the original repertoire is blurring the boundaries between jazz and electronica, and also about what fans can expect from the November concert to celebrate the orchestra's 10th anniversary. We also talk about Kotača's International Quartet, as well as how the trumpet and flugelhorn can be enriched with effects. more
