News
International Dance Day has been celebrated every year around the world since 1982. In Brno, dancers will celebrate it at the piazzetta in front of the Janáček Theatre. The programme includes dance classes, performances by the NdB Ballet and the Brno Dance Conservatory. more
Cotatcha Orchestra is giving a concert to mark the 120th anniversary of birth of the big band giant Duke Ellington. The orchestra will appear in Brno's HaDivadlo together with the Swiss vocalist Géraldine Schnyder. more
Javorník with Jiskra. Joint performance of folklore ensembles in Brno
Folklore ensemble Javorník Brno will perform together with guest ensemble of songs and dances Jiskra from Pilsen. Part of the evening in the Dělnický dům will also be a party with dulcimer music. more
Miloš Štědroň on the topic: Milan and Ludvík Kundera about Janáček
In his lecture, Miloš Štědroň will present Ludvík Kundera as Janáček's assistant and expert in his work. Milan Kundera will be shown as the author of the respected book Můj Janáček [My Janáček]. The lecture will take place in the Moravian Regional Library. The event is an accompanying programme to an exhibition about the translations of Milan Kundera’s works. more
The.Switch will celebrate 15 years since the release of their debut album
Representatives of the Czech crossover scene The.Switch will celebrate 15 years since the release of their album named Beautiful with a concert at the Fléda music club. The concert, which is part of a tour called BTFL15YRS, will also feature guest appearances of Sunset Trail and Denoi from Brno. more
VUS Ondráš Gives the Premiere Performance of Krajinou času
Vojenský umělecký soubor Ondráš (the Ondráš Military Art Ensemble) is preparing a new project in which both professional parts of the ensemble will perform and together celebrate the 65th anniversary of their founding. Krajinou času (Through the Landscape of Time) offers a mosaic of folk dance and music from selected regions of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and Slovakia. more
The Bonjour Brno Festival Enters its 25th Season
The festival of French and francophone culture this year celebrates its 25th birthday. During the month of April Bonjour Brno will be presenting Brno with artistic productions directly from France and events inspired by the culture of the francophone countries. The programme includes concerts, films, plays, exhibitions, literary events, gastronomy and street art. There will also be the traditional Le Rendez-vous, a pétanque tournament and a children’s programme. This year’s motto is Tradition in the Move. more
Symposium: Art, Music, Management Returns to Brno’s JAMU
After two years the Symposium: Art | Music | Management is returning to Brno’s JAMU (Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts). Three days in April will be given over to debate, new ideas and exchanging of contacts between professionals, teachers and students. The 7th Symposium promises more than thirty lecturers from four countries and an accompanying programme. This time the symposium focuses on the education of artistic, and primarily music managers. more
Flamenco Seminar with Cristina Aguilera
The dancer Cristina Aguilera from Granada will be heading to Brno. Aside from a concert in Besední dům there will also be an opportunity to attend her two days of dance courses. The courses are divided into three levels. more
Clarinettist and Grammy holder Oran Etkin will perform as part of the Mladí ladí jazz [Young People Tune Jazz] in the Stará Pekárna music club in Brno. The guests of the concert will be Peter Korman, Tibor Žida, Michael Grombiřík, Dušan Čermák and Roman Horváth. For the next day, Etkin is preparing a music workshop for children, which will take place using his own entertaining teaching method called Timbalooloo. more
For the twenty-eighth year running, the Concentus Moraviae International Music Festival presents dramaturgically varied and interpretively refined evenings set not only in concert halls, but also in courtyards and chateau salons, castle halls, basilicas, churches and synagogues. The theme of this year’s 28th edition is Between Kroměříž and Vienna. Vienna, the cultural centre of Europe, served as the seat of the Habsburg emperors, while Kroměříž was the home of the archbishops of Olomouc. The dramaturgy of this year’s edition was prepared by a trio of respected experts: the Dean of the JAMU Faculty of Music, harpsichordist, organist and musicologist Barbara Maria Willi; historian, musicologist and choirmaster Vladimír Maňas; and Otto Biba, Austrian musicologist and long-time director of the Vienna Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde archive. more
The celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Brno’s Besední dům, which take place within its premises and elsewhere, have an interesting and distinguished dramaturgy that manages to transport the audience to the early days of this concert venue. Two concerts took place on 4 and 5 May and were entitled “Janáček” and “Horňácká muzika”. I took part in the first one; it was a truly momentous experience prepared by the Brno Philharmonic and Petr Mička’s Horňácká muzika. Friday’s repeat of the concert was broadcast by Czech Television. Both nights were sold out and standing tickets were even added to the sale. more
The Brno Philharmonic’s headquarters and one of Brno’s most important historical and cultural landmarks – the Besední dům – celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. Exactly on 3 April 1873, when the auditorium (great hall) of the building designed by architect Theophil von Hansen, author of the famous Musikverein in Vienna, was ceremonially opened, this magnificent building became the centre of Brno’s culture and its distinctive artistic life. A century and a half later – on Monday 1 May 2023 – an afternoon gathering and a subsequent concert entitled When Smetana First Played in Brno. . . will launch a series of concerts that pay tribute to unique milestones in the city’s cultural history. more
Singer-songwriter Martina Trchová, winner of the Anděl award for her album Holobyt, recently disbanded her band and now performs mainly as a soloist. She is slowly working on a new album and is also focusing on visual arts. Her new book Babi, will soon be published, and she’ll also be holding another festival in the Obřany district of Brno. more
I talked to Barbara Maria Willi, the dean of the Faculty of Music at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts, dramaturge, teacher, populariser of classical music, harpsichordist, organist and specialist on the hammered dulcimer, about the 20th anniversary edition of the music series Barbara Maria Willi presents..., as well as about historically informed interpretation and further plans. The fact that she was actively teaching a foreign student just before our talk is the best indication of how busy her schedule is. more
