The MdB's Easter concerts this year are called Znamení, or Signs of the Zodiac

7 April 2025, 1:00
The MdB's Easter concerts this year are called Znamení, or Signs of the Zodiac

This year sees Brno City Theatre continue its tradition of festive Easter concerts. This time, the latest symphonic work by composer Zdenek Merta will be performed, accompanied by poems by Petr Štěpán and complemented by Zora Jandová's paintings and sculptures by Pavel Tasovský.

Astrology is the theme for this year's Easter at Brno City Theatre. Several prominent Czech artists have focused on portraying the signs of the zodiac: sculptor Pavel Tasovský will exhibit his iron sculptures in the MdB Theatre Courtyard, Zora Jandová will present her large-scale pen drawings in the foyer of the Music Theatre, while the stage of the MdB Music Theatre will host a performance of an orchestral composition by composer Zdenek Merta accompanied by poems by Petr Štěpán. The Signs of the Zodiac Easter Concert will feature two performances, on Good Friday, 18 April at 7:00 p.m. and on Holy Saturday, 19 April at 6:00 p.m. in the MdB Music Theatre.

The project, aptly entitled Signs of the Zodiac, brings together several artistic renditions of the familiar sun signs. It has no ambition to praise or criticize astrology. It is about the pure creativity of the artists involved in the project combined with their personal affinity with this mystical space, which naturally offers a variety of inspirations and interpretations. Various ways of ordering constellations on the ecliptic have existed (and evolved) for several thousand years and their undeniable appeal has seen them become hugely popular in our times. Almost everyone knows in which sign they and their loved ones were born. Regardless of belief, indifference or any deep interest in astrology, the zodiac signs are simply an integral part of our lives.

The ninety-minute world première of Zdenek Merta's orchestral composition containing twelve movements that take a fantasy look at possible ways of interpreting the nature of all the signs of the zodiac will be performed live on the stage of the MdB Music Theatre by the large Brno City Theatre orchestra under the direction of music producer and conductor Dan Kalousek, all under the directorial concept of Petr Gazdík and dramaturgical supervision of Klára Latzková.

The stage rendition of the individual signs of the zodiac will also include poems by Petr Štěpán and dance performances choreographed by Alžběta Janíčková, Hana Kratochvilová, Nikol Kratochvílová, Renáta Mrózková and Michal Matěj. Selected pieces will also feature Esther Mertová, Gabriela Vermelho, Annie Křížová and Kateřina Veselá.

Two extraordinary exhibitions will form an integral part of the project: an exhibition of sculptures by Pavel Tasovský in the MdB Theatre Courtyard in front of the entrance to the Music Theatre, where iron sculptures roughly one and a half metres high depicting the signs of the zodiac will be on display, and designs and drawings of the artefacts will also be available, and an exhibition of a series of paintings entitled Signs of the Zodiac by Zora Jandová in the foyer of the Music Theatre, which will include large-scale pen and ink drawings on paper of various sizes, sometimes accompanied by text about the published and notorious traits of each sign.

BCT / photo archive

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