Hot News: The Brno Music Marathon is coming up in a week. It will bring dozens of concerts at twenty-two venues around the city

Hot News: The Brno Music Marathon is coming up in a week. It will bring dozens of concerts at twenty-two venues around the city

Four days of August, twenty-two music stages, dozens of concerts and performances, hundreds of performers and thousands of spectators. All this is promised by the Brno Music Marathon 2019 international festival, which will burst out in just a week, on 8 August 2019. Concerts in the streets and squares will be accessible for free, featuring among others Jana Kirschner, Khoiba, Motionhouse and NoFit State Circus, Monika Bagárová, Jan P. Muchow & The Antagonists, Progres 2, Žamboši or Pacora Trio with Denisa Kopačková. Buskers will play in dwelling rooms on the streets, barrel organ players will appear as part of their 10th international meeting. DJ Jon Hopkins, known for his cooperation with Coldplay, will also come to Brno. Cirk La Putyka and Pokáč are coming, and Lázně Rašínova [Rašínova Spa] will be occupied by opera singers and synchronised swimming. Music will sound also in the underground, in a mall, in churches, in a hotel or in the Town Hall.

The opening of the largest music festival in the centre of Brno will be preceded by an allegorical parade of performers from Amanitas Fire Theater in costumes with special pyrotechnic effects on Thursday, 8 August 2019 on Radnická Street. Goddesses with wings, devils and angels, accompanied by artistically mixed music with live female vocals, will take the audience to Jakubské Náměstí Square, where the informal opening of the festival will take place. The beatboxer Endru or Ritmo Factory with its modern drum show will be featured.

The renowned Brno visual artist Kateřina Šedá has been bringing live music not only to the centre of Brno, but mainly to unconventional places, thanks to her project named Bezuliční busking [Strettless Busking]. In the past, it was possible to hear musicians on balconies, in the underground, and on escalators. Last year, music was played in a yellow Mercedes, on a pedestrian crossing and at the top of a tree.  

This season of the festival will offer dwelling concerts directly in the streets. Four open rooms (living room, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen) will host buskers to give listeners an unforgettable experience – they will be home in the streets. Artists such as the Crazy Accordion Trio (Poland), Steve Aruni (United Kingdom), Mario Bihari Schizzle Orchestra will be joined by barrel organ players from all over the world, just like last year. The novelty of this year's festival will be the participation of artists from two other UNESCO Creative Cities of Music (Brno won this prestigious title in 2017) –  singer Tinatin Tsereteli from is coming from the German city of Hanover and violinist Nicola Manzanim from Bologna; a large Buskers' Jam will take place on Saturday 10 August evening at the Dominik Stage.               

The large Dominik Stage will be built on the newly renovated Dominikánské náměstí Square, offering a mix of genres: alternative, art rock, electronica, film music, children's music, jazz, pop and rock. Its quieter counterpart will be the Guest Centre in the courtyard of the Old Town Hall. It will offer an oasis of calm and information about the festival, but also good food and drink. All this will be accompanied by short concerts of various genres, which will once again include performances for children.

The Folklore Stage at the Bishop's Court will be dedicated to folk music, as well as the Orlí Stage on the terrace next to the theatre, the Kabinet Stage will feature alternative in the famous Brno club, Roma music wil be heard from the Django Stage on Malinovského Náměstí Square and reproduced chillout music production accompanied by stylish gastronomy will be offered by the Brunch'n'Park Stage on Moravské Náměstí Square . 

The functionalist Alfa pasáž [Alpha Mall] will resonate with Pianoštfeta; the Jesuit Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary will host a show named The Infinite Organ at the Jesuits Church. Classics will also be played at the Assembly Room of the New Town Hall, where Barbara Maria Willi & friends will bring the charm of Scottish songs and the power of Ukrainian folklore, and the Mintmaster Cellar, which will host the duo Pavel Fischer & Jakub Jedlinský with its thrilling combination of world music, classics and jazz.    

This year, Czech and foreign buskers will unpack it in four street rooms – on Česká Street, Jakubské Náměstí Square, in the Letmo shopping mall and in the old tunnel called Myší díra [Mouse Hole], barrel organ players will play in the centre, at the Slavia Hotel or at the Red Church. The summer terrace of the Špilberk Castle will belong once again to the most remarkable songwriter of the new generation, who calls himself Pokáč. 

Náměstí Svobody Square will host, apart from  the barrel organ players, a performance called  BLOCK by the British Motionhouse and NoFit State, organized in cooperation with the festival On the Boards, Pavement and Grass; Sono Centrum, thanks to its cooperation with Letní Letná, will present Cirk La Putyka. Jon Hopkins' dance party will take place at Fléda and listeners will be invited to Rašínova Spa to the opera The Last Polo.

Venues of music production:

Dominik Stage

Dominikánské Náměstí Square

Mix of genres

9 and 10 August

Guest Centre

courtyard of the Old Town Hall

live music, information centre and gastronomy

8  - 11 August

Streetless Busking

Jakubské Náměstí Square, Česká Street, Letmo shopping mall, Myší díra and the city centre

“Rooms” by the visual artist Kateřina Šedá

10th International Meeting of Barrel organ players

10  - 11 August

Cabinet Stage

Kabinet Múz

alternative, electronica, jazz, rock

9 and 10 August

Orlí  Stage

Divadlo na Orlí

folk

9 August

Folklore Stage

Bishop's Court

folklore

10 August

Endless Organ at the Jesuit Church

Jesuit Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary

classics

Pianoštafeta in the Alpha Mall

 

Alfa Palace

classics, pop

Django Stage

Malinovského Náměstí Square

Roma music

9 August

Brunch'n'Park Stage

Moravské Náměstí Square

chillout and gastronomy

9 August

Mintmaster's cellar

Dominikánské Náměstí Square

Pavel Fischer & Jakub Jedlinský

10 August

Assembly Room of the New Town Hall

Dominikánské Náměstí Square

Barbara Maria Willi & friends

11 August

Hotel Slavia

Solniční Street

10th World Championship of Barrel Organ Players – the opening show

11 August

The Red Church

Komenského Náměstí Square

10th World Championship of Barrel Organ Players – the closing show

11 August

Summer Terrace of Špilberk Castle

Špilberk

Pokáč + Aleš Petržela

8 August

Sono Centrum

Cirk La Putyka / Isole

8 – 10 August

Rašínova Spa

Hausopera / The Last Polo

9 and 10 August

Fléda

Jon Hopkins / DJ set

9 August

Náměstí Svobody Square

Motionhouse, NoFit State / BLOCK

10 and 11 August

THE PROGRAMME MAY CHANGE WITHOUT FURTHER NOTICE

Up-to-date information is available on the festival website and on Facebook.

Admission to most events is free.

Photo from the archive of Music Marathon 2018

Photo archive The Brno Music Marathon

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