Brno Radio will open an exhibition today to mark its 95th anniversary

Brno Radio will open an exhibition today to mark its 95th anniversary

Brno Radio will open an exhibition tomorrow to mark its 95th anniversary of regular broadcasting. The exhibition features the voices of Oldřich Nový, Karel Absolon and Jiří Mahen falling from a special sound shower. There will also be a radio receiver, which was made ninety years ago by Brno airport staff for their director. The exhibition starts today 6 September.

Regular broadcasting began on 1 September  1924, from a "radiosalon" in the turret above today's office of the governor in the Zemský dům [Regional House] in Brno. It happened only two years after the British BBC and a year after Prague's Radiojournal. Oldřich Nový was there – and after many years he still remembered working in the radio. The anniversary and later destiny of Brno Radio will be commemorated by an exhibition that will open today in the Muzeum Brněnska [Brno District Museum], or more precisely in the Celnice Gallery on the grounds of Villa Löw-Beer in Drobného Street. “It is of course impossible to summarize 95 years of history and dozens of personalities in a single exhibition. Therefore, it will be rather a small sampling of the truly extraordinary history of Brno Radio, ” says Hana Ondryášová, director of Czech Radio Brno. The exhibition starts today September 6 in the Celnice Gallery on the grounds of Villa Löw-Beer. It will be open until 13 October, always from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 to 18:00. Admission is free.

For the first time in years, a song by J. Severin from the Strážnice festival in 1948, during which live birds were heard at that time, will be part of the exhibition. Or a legendary live recording of a human heart surgery in Brno in the mid-1950s. “It may not be obvious at first sight, but radio is also a treasury of photographs. We also selected some of them, ” adds Miloš Šenkýř, the main author of the exhibition. The exhibition also captures the present – Czech Radio Brno is the most listened regional public service broadcaster at all. In the Brno studio, programmes for most other public service stations are also created and, moreover, it takes care of an extraordinary cultural legacy in the form of recordings of music, plays, folklore and news. 

Photo from archive of Brno Radio

Comments

Reply

No comment added yet..

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

With Thursday's concert entitled Bruckneriana, the Brno Philharmonic under the direction of Principal Conductor Dennis Russell Davies launched the subscription series Philharmonia in the Theatre I. The orchestra performed works by Anton Bruckner and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, a Polish-American conductor and composer who devoted his life's work to Bruckner. Performers wearing crimson sashes with the inscription "Playing forte!” appeared in front of the audience, joining the "Let's not let culture die” initiative, which draws attention to the underfunding of culture and opposes the government's plan to invest just 0.64% of the state budget into culture next year, moving further and further away from its promise to spend at least 1%.  more

The Brno Philharmonic Orchestra has been running the Orchestral Academy of the Brno Philharmonic (OAFB) project for nine seasons, enabling young talented musicians to gain orchestral experience in a professional ensemble. In this manner, the orchestra educates the next generation of musicians, both permanent and external. However, working here also gives young people the opportunity to show their skills in chamber music and in a concert series called Young Blood aka Music Up Close. The first seasonal concert took place on Wednesday 15 November at Besední dom.  more

Baladas da Luta, Fighting Ballads, is the title of the sixth album by Brazilian singer Mariana Da Cruz and her Swiss-Brazilian band Da Cruz. It is a combination of modern music that combines Latin American tradition and contemporary electronic elements with strong lyrics. In them, the author fights for women’s rights, stands up against dictatorships and specifically criticizes the atmosphere that has evolved in Brazil under the now former authoritarian President Bolsonaro. Da Cruz performed at Brasil Fest Brno in August 2023. We revisit this festival with an interview conducted following their concert at Zelný trh. Singer Mariana Da Cruz and keyboard player and producer Ane Hebeisn, performing as Ane H, responded to our questions.  more

The programme for Janáček Brno 2024, an international opera and music festival now in its 9th year, was unveiled at a concert held to mark this occasion entitled Janáček to the start! On Saturday, 4 November, the Mahen Theatre was filled not only with devoted fans of the festival, but also with foreign journalists, politicians and prominent figures from the world of culture. In addition to a collection of wonderful musical performances, the audience was also treated to a lineup of renowned artists – Kateřina Kněžíková (soprano), Václava Krejčí Housková (mezzo-soprano), Josef Špaček (violin) and, last but not least, Robert Kružík, who took on the role of both conductor leading the Orchestra of the Janáček Opera at the National Theatre Brno during the evening and also performing as a cellist.  more