This year the festival programme includes musical works from the 7th century to the present. Gregorian chants, a setting of Book of Lamentations from the 10th century, Renaissance Rome, the orthodox repertoire, 18th century services from the Moravian countryside, organ pieces and contemporary works. The festival will also for the first time be welcomed into the church on Josefská street.
“During Holy and Easter week all the corners of the earth and their liturgies will be gathering in Brno. The theme of the 28th Easter Festival of Sacred Music is Ceremony / It is Good to Celebrate the Lord,” explains the festival’s dramaturge Vladimír Maňas. This year’s festival will for the first time be welcomed into the church on Josefská street. There the Byzantine Passion will be heard, which represents the orthodox repertoire for Holy Week. And a day later there will be Emmert’s symphony for solo violin Ecce Homo. An interesting feature of both concerts is that they will take place in the dark. The Philokallia Ensemble will sing by their candles, the violinist will have the score on his tablet and the church will be without illumination,” said Philharmonic Brno director Marie Kučerová.
Paľa is one of three artists who will be performing in solo programmes at the festival. “Emmert’s symphony is extraordinary and it can be said that it fulfils the definition of a psychedelic work and that is how the symphony is conceived: to move human thoughts at least for a moment in the direction of the salvation of souls. Furthermore it was composed directly for Paľa,” stated the musicologist Vojtěch Dlask. Two other solo concerts are in the care of two organists. Firstly Hans-Ola Ericsson in the dark hours and a programme that combines Bach’s serious works with the compositions of his contemporaries and present-day Scandinavian organ works. “Ericsson is an exceptional phenomenon in international music, with no other organist giving as many world premieres as him in recent decades,” stated Maňas. The second organ concert takes place in the Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady and both of its organs will be heard in the concert. Listeners can look forward to a comprehensive selection of French organists/composers from the Baroque to the present played by the Brno native Michael Bártek.
The Easter Festival of Sacred Music will be taking place from 14 to 28 April 2019.
The festival will open with Gregorian chant from the acclaimed Schola Gregoriana Pragensis and this will be followed by the world premiere of the composition by the Estonian Toivo Tulev, which was written to a commission from the festival. Its title So Shall He Descend refers to three descents. “The first of these is the descent of the Holy Spirit to His People, the second is Jesus’ descent from the Mount of Olives to the Holy City, which is celebrated on Palm Sunday, when the composition will be heard. And thirdly we are descendants of the nation which enthusiastically welcomed the Saviour and shortly after called for His death,” commented Tulev on his work. Most of the texts set to music are from the poems of Kahlil Gibran. Aside from the fact that the work was written for the given time, it is also intended for the cathedral on Petrov Hill, which the composer visited many times last year in the autumn so as to acquaint himself with its acoustics.
The premiere will take place in the presence of the composer, performed by the Brno Philharmonic and the Ars Brunensis choir. It will be conducted by the principal conductor Dennis Russell Davies. “Two days later he will celebrate a significant jubilee and so we are planning a small surprise which I am sure will also be pleasant for the listeners who are there,” added Kučerová.
Programme:
Nova et vetera
- Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul, 7 p.m.
Passion Meditation
Gregorian chant in the Holy Week liturgy
Toivo Tulev: So Shall He Descend (world premiere of a work commissioned for the festival)
Schola Gregoriana Pragensis:
Hasan El-Dunia, Ondřej Holub, Jan Kukal, Ondřej Maňour, Ondřej Múčka, Stanislav Předota, Michal Medek, artistic director David Eben
soloists Ivana Rusko – soprano, Bettina Schneebeli – mezzosoprano, Jaroslav Březina – tenor, Jiří Hájek – baritone
Ars Brunensis, choirmaster Dan Kalousek
Brno Philharmonic, conductor Dennis Russell Davies
Byzantine Passion
- Church of St. Joseph, 7 p.m.
Orthodox repertoire for Holy Week
Philokallia (Prague), artistic director Marios Christou
Ecce Homo
- Church of St. Joseph, 7 p.m.
František Gregor Emmert: Ecce Homo, symphony for solo violin
Milan Paľa – violin
tenebrae: Church of the Assumption of Our Lady, Jezuitská street, always 9 p.m.
Which Art in Heaven
Organ recital by Hans-Ola Ericsson
Johann Sebastian Bach: Prelude in B minor BWV 544:1
Johann Sebastian Bach: Piano exercise III, Nos. 1, 2 and 3
Johann Sebastian Bach: O Mensch, bewein' dein' Sünde gross BWV 622
Georg Muffat: Passacaglia in G minor
Pēteris Vasks: Te Deum
Dietrich Buxtehude: Prelude in F-sharp minor BuxWV 146
Johann Sebastian Bach: Vater unser im Himmelreich BWV 682
Johann Sebastian Bach: Fugue in B minor BWV 544:2
Hans-Ola Ericsson (SWE) – organ
Thy Will be Done
Josef Schreier: Good Friday Oratorio
soloists Anna Petrtylová – canto (Angel), Monika Machovičová – alto (God’s Mercy),
Marek Žihla – tenor (Sinner), David Malát – bass (Justice)
Baroque Orchestra of Prague Conservatory, conductor Jakub Kydlíček
Light without Shadow, Source of Calm
Alfred Schnittke: Concerto for Choir
Vox Iuvenalis, Masaryk University Choir, Láska Opravdivá Choir, Kantiléna Choir,
conductor Jan Ocetek
Spanish Easter in Renaissance Rome
- St. James Church, 8 p.m.
Easter celebration on the Piazza Navona
(Tomás Luis de Victoria, Francisco Guerrero, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and others)
La Grande Chapelle (ESP), artistic director Albert Recasens
Joy and Clarity
- Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Staré Brno, 7.30 p.m.
Easter organ concert of Michael Bártek
Jean-François Dandrieu: Offertoire pour le jour de pâques “O filii et filiæ”
Marcel Dupré: Cortège et litanie op. 19 No. 2
César Franck: Prière, op. 20
Richard Wagner: Karfreitagszauber from the opera Parsifal WWV 111, arr. Michael Bártek
Olivier Messiaen: La résurrection du Christ
Olivier Messiaen: Joie et clarté des corps glorieux
Jiří Ropek: Variations on “Victimae paschali laudes”
Michael Bártek – organ (CH)
Gates of Hell Torn Down
- Besední dům, 7.30 p.m.
Johann Sebastian Bach: Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden BWV 230
Johann Sebastian Bach: Easter Oratorio D major BWV 249
soloists Pavla Radostová – soprano, Monika Jägerová – alto, Jakub Kubín – tenor, Jiří M. Procházka – bass, Luise Haugk – baroque oboe
Czech Ensemble Baroque, conductor Roman Válek
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