Brno Contemporary Orchestra will celebrate the 150th birthday of the Besední dům

21 February 2023, 1:00
 Brno Contemporary Orchestra will celebrate the 150th birthday of the Besední dům

After a long time, the Brno Contemporary Orchestra returns to the Besední dům to celebrate its 150th birthday. For their 11th season, they have put together a special concert programme especially for the Besední dům. The upcoming concert, led by conductor Pavel Šnajdr, will feature three Czech and one world premiere.

Mirela Ivičević and the Yugoslav Partisans, Boris Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto, Graffiti by South Korean composer Unsuk Chin, and finally the world premiere of Vit Zouhar’s BCO commission PHAISTOS – a concert for fifteen warriors. Mirela Ivičević’s composition is a commemoration of the brave struggle of Yugoslav partisans against the fascist axis, during which the author’s grandfather also died. Boris Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto is a demonstration of the possibilities of virtuosity in contemporary music. One instrument, and the participants who complete its sound. The South Korean, Berlin-based composer Unsuk Chin dedicated her composition to the subversive Graffiti community, in its original and not yet commercialised meaning. At the end of the concert, a world premiere concert for fifteen members of the Brno Contemporary Orchestra will be performed by the leading Czech composer Vit Zouhar. The stage will be transformed into a fighting ring... The concert is announced for Monday 27 February at 7.30 pm in the Besední dům hall.

The Besední dům is the oldest creative centre in Brno, as various communities used to meet here and many volunteers participated in its operation. As part of sustainability, energy was saved and no cars were used. From the beginning, contemporary music was listened to, bestsellers were read and presented, and workshops and after parties were held. The food was seasonal, organic, local and fair trade. Good neighbourly relationships were built and most of the projects were educational and interactive and supported minorities. Every night there was a packed show with a chill out zone, a swap, a show case reading, an event, or a distinctive team building with an ambient backdrop for conversation. Technology aside, it was a very progressive, innovative, and inspiring space. We firmly believe that even today, 150 years after its opening, Besední dům still has a lot to offer. It is a place that shapes communities and social bubbles removed from the outside world. When you enter, you become part of something extraordinary, you become a participant and a member of the BCO community”, explains the concert’s dramaturg Viktor Pantůček.

Mirela Ivičević’s composition is a commemoration of the brave struggle of Yugoslav partisans against the fascist axis, during which the author’s grandfather also died. Boris Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto is a demonstration of the possibilities of virtuosity in contemporary music. One instrument, and the participants who complete its sound. The South Korean, Berlin-based composer Unsuk Chin dedicated her composition to the subversive Graffiti community, in its original and not yet commercialised meaning. At the end of the concert, a world premiere concert for fifteen members of the Brno Contemporary Orchestra will be performed by the leading Czech composer Vit Zouhar. The stage will be transformed into a fighting ring.

PROGRAMME

MUSIC GATHERING IN THE BESEDNÍ DŮM

Camaraderie, cooperation, subversion and a proper battle at the end

27 February 2023, Besední dům 7:30 pm

Mirela Ivičević – Case White

Boris Tchaikovsky – Concerto for Piano and Orchestra

Unsuk Chin – Graffiti

Vít Zouhar – PHAISTOS – Concert for 15 Fighters (order BCO)

Stano Slavicek – piano

Brno Contemporary Orchestra/ Pavel Šnajdr – conductor

Photo BCO archive

Comments

Reply

No comment added yet..

Connection, unity, contemplation - these words can be used to describe the musical evening of Schola Gregoriana Pragensis under the direction of David Eben and organist Tomáš Thon, which took place yesterday as part of the Easter Festival of Sacred Music at the church of St. Thomas. Not only the singing of a Gregorian chant, but also the works of composer Petr Eben (1929-2007) enlivened the church space with sound and colour for an hour.  more

With a concert called Ensemble Inégal: Yesterday at the church of St. John, Zelenka opened the 31st edition of the Easter Festival of Sacred Music, this time with the suffix Terroir. This slightly mysterious word, which is popularly used in connection with wine, comes from the Latin word for land or soil, and carries the sum of all the influences, especially the natural conditions of a particular location and on the plants grown there. This term is thus metonymically transferred to the programme of this year's VFDH, as it consists exclusively of works by Czech authors, thus complementing the ongoing Year of Czech Musicmore

For the fourth subscription concert of the Philharmonic at Home serieswhich took place on 14 March at the Besední dům and was entitled Mozartiana, the Brno Philharmonic, this time under the direction of Czech-Japanese conductor Chuhei Iwasaki, chose four works from the 18th to 20th centuries. These works are dramaturgically linked either directly through their creation in the Classical period or by inspiration from musical practices typical of that period. The first half of the concert featured Martina Venc Matušínská with a solo flute.  more

The second stop on the short Neues Klavier Trio Dresden's Czech-German tour was at the concert hall of the Janáček Academy of Music on 6 March at 16:00. A programme consisting of world premières by two Czech and two German composers was performed in four cities (Prague, Brno, Leipzig and Dresden).  more

The last opera première of the National Theatre Brno this year was Hurvínek Sells the Bride, which was co-produced with the Spejbl and Hurvínek Theatre. The première continued the thematic focus associated with the Year of Czech Music and took place on 24 November in the large hall of the Reduta Theatre.  more