News
Singer and musician Lenka Dusilová will perform live for the first time ever with the big band Cotatcha Orchestra. Their joint concert will take place at the Husa na provázku Theater. The nine-time winner of the Anděl Award and the sixteen-member ensemble led by trumpeter Jiří Kotača will present both original novelties written for their joint project and some compositions from their award-winning album Bigbandová elektronika. more
Andreas Scholl conducts Bach cantatas in Brno Cathedral today
For the first time in the Czech Republic, the world-famous countertenor Andreas Scholl will perform as a conductor. The acclaimed expert on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach will perform two Bach cantatas with the Czech Ensemble Baroque in Brno Cathedral this evening, opening the eleventh season of the “Bacha na Mozarta!” series. more
The ONDRÁŠ Military Art Ensemble is looking for a violist
VUS Ondráš is expanding its professional music ensemble to include new viola players. This is a full-time position. more
The Concentus Musicus Wien Orchestra will open this year’s Concentus Moraviae Festival
The world-renowned orchestra will open the 28th edition of the Concentus Moraviae International Music Festival in Kroměříž, then head to Brno. The concerts will be led by conductor Tomáš Netopil. more
In a week, the Brno National Theatre will premiere the operetta “The Merry Widow”
Lehár’s “The Merry Widow” is one of the most famous operettas in the world and will replace Oskar Nedbal’s “Polish Blood”, which represented this genre in Brno for several seasons. Choreographer Martin Pacek will appear as a director for the first time at the Brno National Theatre. Director Magdalena Švecová, conductor Jakub Klecker, and designers Zuzana Přidalová and David Janošek participated in the creation of the operetta production together with Pacek. more
The Brno National Theatre announces auditions for the opera orchestra in the 1st and 2nd violin groups
Both auditions for the opera orchestra for the position of tutti in the 1st and 2nd violin groups for male and female players will take place in February 2023. more
The programme of the 22nd JazzFestBrno is now complete. In addition to the previously announced personalities, more important names of the contemporary jazz scene have been added. These include, among others, singer Kurt Elling, drummer Simon Phillips, saxophonist Donny McCaslin, pianist Emmet Cohen, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, saxophonist Melissa Aldana, and the newly formed English-Czech trio Noble-Slavík-Clarvis to visit Brno. Also performing will be the Poogie Bell – Juraj Griglak Band, drummer Udi Shlomo, and bassist and vocalist Chris Morrissey. These artists join previously announced musicians Diana Krall, Kronos Quartet, Dave Holland, John Scofield, and Tigran Hamasyan. This year’s edition of the Brno JazzFest will offer 16 concerts during the main part of the festival over 13 nights. more
Conductor Caspar Richter passed away
German conductor Caspar Richter died on Thursday 2 February 2023 at the age of 78. During his career he worked closely with the Brno City Theatre and was at the beginning of its Music Stage. He was also a guest conductor at the Brno Philharmonic. more
Jiří Plocek will present his new book “Song as a Symbol”
Jiří Plocek will be presenting his new book Píseň jako simbol (Song as a Symbol – In the Footsteps of a Phenomenon of Human Culture), published last December by Galén, at the Academia bookstore in Brno. more
Update: the Brno Philharmonic celebrated success at Carnegie Hall
Yesterday the Brno Philharmonic played the most important concert in its modern history. In New York’s Carnegie Hall it presented an unusual programme combining Czech and American music: Martinů, Janáček, and Glass. Symphony No. 12 “Lodger” became the event of the evening, because it was performed in the New York premiere, and in the personal presence of the composer Philip Glass. 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
