The Year of Czech Music will present unjustly neglected composers, monumental symphonies, and commemorations of important anniversaries during the season. The Brno Philharmonic presents its 68th season, which continues its long-standing concepts and brings news for subscribers. The orchestra will enter the new season on September 14 with Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection”, conducted by Principal Conductor Dennis Russell Davies.
At the beginning of the season, the Brno Philharmonic will continue its line of performing great symphonic works by Austrian and German composers. “This includes Wagner, Bruckner, and Richard Strauss, which we will be performing. All of these monumental pieces, with the exception of the suite from Wagner’s Parsifal, will be led by the chief conductor, who is a leading world expert on Bruckner and the other mentioned composers,” said Brno Philharmonic director Marie Kučerová.
The central theme of the season is the Year of Czech Music, which the Philharmonic will celebrate with several projects throughout 2024. One of the more traditional of these is the concert Dvořák, Suk & Martinů, which will be performed by two prominent representatives of the younger generation of Czech performers: violinist Jan Mráček and conductor Robert Kružík. A not quite typical tribute to Czech music is the concert Rhapsody in Blue 100 with works by Schulhoff, Gershwin, and Korngold. “This is actually an anniversary project, the works or their authors are celebrating their jubilee anniversaries. At the same time, this contribution to the Year of Czech Music asks the somewhat provocative question of whether we are willing to accept the German-Jewish Prague-born Schulhoff, whose mother tongue was German but who actively embraced Czech musical culture. Or the Brno-born Korngold, who left Brno at an early age and developed his work under completely different influences. We are asking where the boundaries are for what we call Czech musical culture,” explained Vítězslav Mikeš, dramaturg of the Brno Philharmonic. The title of the concert refers to the 100th anniversary of the premiere of Gershwin’s popular work, whose symphonic jazz had a significant influence on Schulhoff, among others. Another unconventional contribution to the celebrations is the Bedřich Smetana 200 project, combining the compositions of the founder of Czech national music with those of Liszt and Wagner, who were major influences on his work. Smetana will also be commemorated in a birthday concert by Chief Conductor Davies. With his life and artistic partner Maki Namekawa, he will perform Má vlast (My Fatherland) in Smetana’s original arrangement for four-hand piano. “We will complement it with visuals by Cori O’Lan of Ars Elecronica. Over the summer, we will visit places of significance related to the history of the Czech Republic together to gather footage for the visualizations,” Davies informed. Smetana will be performed once more in the season – in a unique project called In the Orchestra, where the audience can sit right among the musicians during the concert.
In anticipation of spring and peace, a concert combining Jan Novák’s Spring Symphony with Antonín Rejcha’s New Psalm, combines two seasonal lines: a tribute to Czech music and conceptual care for lesser-performed but outstanding composers. “After all, we have released Rejcha as well as Novák in a new edition of our recordings, and we would like to continue doing so. This is music that definitely deserves to be performed on world stages,” Mikeš pointed out. Along with these composers, the new season will feature regular performances by Alfred Schnittke, Estonian Lepo Sumera, and Mieczysław Weinberg. Among the world soloists, the orchestra will welcome tenor Christoph Prégardien, violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky, soprano Martina Janková, and harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani. “The latter will be featured in all three works of the evening. As the leading voice of Krás’ Chamber Music, as a solo instrument accompanied by the orchestra in Poulenc’s Concerto champêtre and in the concertante part of Weinberg’s Seventh Symphony,” emphasised Kučerová.
Also returning to the orchestra will be conductor Michael Schøenwandt to perform Sibelius’ Symphony No. 1, Tomáš Netopil with a combination of Rachmaninov, Mahler, and Schnittke, and Alexander Liebreich with Krása, Poulenc, and Weinberg. Among the new conducting faces, listeners can look forward to Takeshi Moriuchi, who will also take the piano in Adams’ Eros Piano. After a highly successful American tour, the orchestra will be heading to South Korea and many prestigious venues in Austria, Germany, and Poland. “We will be going to summer festivals in Rheingau, Grafenegg, and the Vienna Konzerthaus,” said Pavel Šindelář, the orchestra’s manager. The home audience will hear the Brno Philharmonic in Ostrava, Valtice, České Budějovice, and Smetana’s Litomyšl. In the new season, educational activities for children and adults will also continue: interactive workshops with musicians, programmes for schools as well as for mothers with toddlers, educational concerts, and the Mozart Effect project for parents expecting the birth of a child. “The successful Half and Half (Za půlku na půlku) project this year includes six evenings at the Besední dům throughout the season. Its principle is that for the first half of the concert the child is in the hall with the parent, and for the second half with the tutors, with the parent returning to the concert. This is a great way to introduce children who would not be able to handle the whole concert to classical music and at the same time to provide it to adults,” said Kristýna Drášilová, lecturer of educational activities. She also drew attention to the new subscription programme Chamber Family Afternoons, during which children are literally within reach of the musicians.
The sale of the new season starts on Monday 29 May at 12 noon. It is intended for all subscribers who wish to renew their subscription, which they can do online from home or come physically to the Brno Philharmonic’s pre-sale. All special concerts and tickets for the Špilberk Festival will also go on sale that day.
On Monday, 19 June, the sale of all non-renewed subscription seats, tickets for Moravian Autumn (Moravský podzim) as well as Tailor-made Seasons (Sezony na míru) will begin. “People can now set up a season starting from three concerts, for which they will receive a 30% discount. The principle still applies that the more concerts they choose, the greater the discount awaits them. All season tickets and individual tickets are fully available online. Thanks to the clear purchasing procedure, they never have to worry about missing out on the highest possible discount,” Kučerová pointed out. She mentioned one more novelty of the upcoming season: people will get the programmes for all concerts for free and will no longer have to buy them at the ticket booths. As in previous seasons, the Philharmonic offers ten subscription series: two large ones at the Janáček Theatre (Oslavná, Temperamentní), one at the Besední dům (Noblesní) and a series of chamber, special, family and jazz concerts. There is also the Young Blood (Mladá krev) series of orchestral academics and concerts by the Kantiléna choir. Download the Brno Philharmonic’s 68th season catalogue here.
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