Interviews
On Monday 30 July the guest of Folk Holidays in Náměšť nad Oslavou will be the English singer-songwriter John Smith. The organisers speak of him as a “hidden treasure of exquisite folk singing” and emphasise his album from last year Headlong with its personal confessions to his wife Joanne. We spoke with Smith, who his guitar idol and model John Renbourn called “the future of folk”, by telephone. more
The mandolin player Martin Krajíček plays in various genres of groups. He has his own acoustic trio, is a member of the Jitka Šuranská Trio, plays in the “Mexican” group Mariachi Espuelas and in Cimbal Classica, plays klezmer and also teaches the mandolin. Since last year he has also been the organiser of the Mandolin Festival in Boskovice. This year it will take place from 8 to 10 June. more
This year Miloš Štědroň is taking part as artist in residence at the festival Concentus Moraviae. This was a welcome pretext for an interview. It covered his musical beginnings, his path to a musical education, his artistic development and his famous teachers, his inclination to the legacy of the musical avant-garde as well as why he suddenly kept a certain distance from it, how he dedicated himself to faithful and successful cooperation with the Theatre Goose on a String as well as how he was affected by the political changes of the period, how he overcame their pressure, how he worked with today’s interviewer a banned playwright, how he wrote for the wonderful Due Boemi di Praga, how he taught music and the history of music and worked as a populariser, how he knowledgably interpreted ancient music, but also Leoš Janáček, how he worked as an editor, how he became a significant and famous cultural figure, and not just in Brno, and how all the tasks he set himself in his varied and rich creative life were and are being fulfilled, and the joy he has had from it all. more
Pavel Koudelka, former drummer with the bands Dunaj, Z kopce, Krutnava and Mňága a Žďorp, recently became a member of two new groups. One of them is the drumming duo Zesilovači with Pavel Fajt and the second is Kucharski. In this group he works with musicians known from the Třebíč group FruFru – the vocalist Václav Bartoš, guitarist Vladimír Dudek and bass guitarist Adam Kotrba – and with the keyboard player Víťa Košíček. Kucharski will be giving their first concert on Thursday 17 May in Brno at the Stará Pekárna. more
Julia Ulehla is an American singer, grand-daughter of Vladimír Úlehla, the Moravian musicologist and collector of folk songs and author of the legendary book Živá píseň (Living Song). Together with her husband, the guitarist with Armenian roots Aram Bajakian and former player with Lou Reed and Diana Krall, Julia set up the group Dálava, which works in a non-traditional way with Moravian folk music. They have recorded what is already their second album, The Book of Transfiguration, and we talked about it with Julia and Aram during their recent stay in Brno. more
An interview between Kateřina Bajo, the main coordinator for the membership of Prague as a city of literature in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and David Dittrich, main coordinator for the membership of Brno as a city of music in the same network. The UNESCO Creative Cities Network was set up in 2004 and its main aim is to support cooperation and international cooperation and creativity. Now it brings together 180 member cities from 72 countries from around the world. The cities fall into 7 creative areas – literature, music, design, film, gastronomy, traditional crafts and media. A city applying for membership in the network has to fulfil very strict criteria, and it must be supported not only by the commission of experts but also by all the member cities. more
As part of the tour which has been in progress since the spring, on 28 November the group Zrní (which translates as Grain) will be coming to Fléda in Brno. They are performing their latest album called Jiskřící (Sparkling). The members of the group (four Honzas and one Ondra) reacted to our questions collectively, with only the responses of Honza Unger as the author of the lyrics sometimes coming to the forefront. more
As part of the Moravia Music Fest on 16 November the group Organic Quartet with Ondřej Pivec will be performing in Brno’s Metro Music Bar. This organist of Czech origin, who has lived in New York since 2009, has in recent years worked with the major signer Gregory Porter, and for his work on his album Take Me To The Alley even won a Grammy. In Brno he is presenting his new album Terms And Conditions Apply, which he recorded with his former Czech fellow players – the guitarist Libor Šmoldas, the drummer Tomáš Hobzek and the saxophonist Jakub Doležal. more
The Black Uganda Choir, a non-traditional polyphonic choir, is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Although the ensemble is led by Tomáš Drtílek, our questions were answered by the spokesman of the thirteen-strong ensemble, Ivan Holas, and the most productive writer in the group, Richard Lank. more
From 16 September to 19 December the twelfth year of Jazz Brno will be taking place in the Stará Pekárna club in Brno. It will offer not only modern jazz but also fusion, funk and a solid chunk of blues. The festival opens on Saturday 16 September with a concert by the American blues musician Linwood Taylor, who will be performing in Brno as part of a larger Czech tour. We asked him a number of questions on the telephone. more
Last year the jazz double bass player Vincenc Kummer celebrated his 75th birthday. On that occasion he wrote a book in which he described his artistic and personal life. more
At Folk Holidays 2017 in Náměšt nad Oslavou two significant groups from Denmark are appearing, among others. On Monday July 24 it will be the instrumental ensemble Dreamers’ Circus and on Thursday 27 July the quartet Nordens Tone. This is made up of three jazz musicians (piano, double bass and saxophone) and the singer Jullie Hjetland, who sings in eight different Nordic languages. And it was with her that we spoke by telephone. more
The brilliant Moravian cimbalom player Dalibor Štrunc (1966) came from a folk environment in Wallachia and after graduating from the Brno Conservatory had a number of musical engagements – from classical through folk to being a member for many years of Hana and Petr Ulrych’s group Javory. It is an unbelievable twenty-five years since he formed the group Cimbal Classic, in which he began to make use of his song-writing as well as musical skills. In that time Cimbal Classic has become a fixture on our folk scene. This year they are celebrating their anniversary with a new CD and a tour. more
We spoke with the trumpeter, arranger and bandmaster of the Brno big band B-Side Band on the occasion of the 10th birthday of this remarkable orchestra. Among other things the B-Side Band celebrated this anniversary with three concerts in Brno’s Sono Centre. more
Antonín Fajt is the son of the singer and violin player Iva Bittová and the drummer Pavel Fajt. Even if he does appear as a guest on the latest album At Home by Iva Bittová & Čikori, it isn’t a case of nepotism. He came up with and perfected his playing and composing style himself. He has had the chance to compare his childhood spent in Moravia with the last ten years spent overseas. And since he enjoys linking musical activity with for example the culinary arts or the healing effects of art, our interview was by no means just about music. more
The final concert of this year’s instalment of the Barbara Maria Willi Presents series offered a unique project that on 4 December brought together two ensembles in the Convent of the Brothers of Mercy: Cappella Pratensis and Ramillete de Tonos. They showed the audience the many different ways in which one can work with the polyphonic repertoire of the 15th and 16th centuries. The programme intertwined sacred and secular music, and purely vocal, vocal-instrumental and purely instrumental pieces. more
The rediscovery and digitisation of the Brno polyphonic manuscripts BAM 1 and BAM 2 has opened a new chapter in the study and performance of Renaissance music. At the crossroads of historical research, modern technology, and artistic interpretation stands Past Forward, a cross-border project connecting institutions from the Netherlands, Belgium and the Czech Republic. At its artistic core are two musicians whose approaches complement each other: Tim Braithwaite, artistic director of Cappella Pratensis, and Kateřina Maňáková, lutenist, teacher of early plucked instruments at Janáček Academy of Performing Arts and guarantor of the entire initiative. In this conversation, they discuss working with previously overlooked sources, the challenges of historically informed performance, the promises of international collaboration, and their vision for the future of early-music interpretation. more
The concert by Filharmonie Brno under Dennis Russell Davies on Thursday 6 November in Besední dům offered a fascinating programme combining the work of two contemporary composers from the former Soviet Union. The performers included Armenian baritone Aksel Daveyan, violist Julian Veverica, percussionist Lukáš Krejčí, and the Austrian Hard-Chor Linz choir under choirmaster Alexander Koller. more
Brno-born pianist and Director General of the Czech Philharmonic, David Mareček, is appearing together with cellist Václav Petr on a concert tour in South Korea. During the first week of November, the duo is presenting Czech repertoire on prestigious stages, including the Seogwipo Arts Center, Yongin Poeun Art Hall and Daegu Concert House. more
Moravian Autumn, organised by the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, has long been one of the most important musical events of the autumn season. For the third time it also included the student project New World of Moravian Autumn – living proof that the connection between academia and professional practice can yield stimulating and deeply artistic results. This project, which originated at JAMU as an experiment within the course in practical dramaturgy, has evolved into a fully-fledged and respected part of the festival programme over the past few years. more
22 September this year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875-1911) - Lithuanian artist, composer, painter and choirmaster, founder of Lithuanian national music and a representative of Symbolism and Art Nouveau. The concert entitled Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis - MKČ 150, which clearly referenced this anniversary, took place on Thursday 23 October at Besední dům. The programme combined Čiurlionis’s compositions with works by František Chaloupka, who also collaborated on the project as dramaturge. The concert was given the umbrella title Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis / František Chaloupka: Moje cesta (My Journey), a nod to one of Čiurlionis' pictorial triptychs. Chaloupka's work, however, does not follow directly on from Čiurlionis. It follows its own path, but connects with him through inspiration in mythology, where it sees a strong reflection of the present. more
The concert evening by PhilHarmonia Octet Prague with guest baritone Roman Hoza brought a programme conceived with curatorial sensitivity - with emphasis on the continuity of the classical tradition and its later metamorphoses. more
The Brno staging of Janáček's Jenůfa at the Moravian Autumn Festival once again proved that even after many years, an original directorial concept can still reveal new dramatic and musical nuances when refreshed through a partly renewed cast and interpretive inventiveness. Martin Glaser’s direction remains firmly grounded in a realistic reading of the work, yet in combination with Robert Kružík’s musical leadership the production feels alive, gripping, and emotionally genuine. more
The chamber music programme of the 53rd Moravian Autumn International Festival on Thursday featured songs by Franz Schubert arranged for guitar and voice by the duo María Cristina Kiehr (soprano) and Pablo Márquez (romantic guitar). The evening, entitled Longing, took place in Brno’s Besední dům. more
Liane Sadler and Elias Conrad bring an intimate synthesis of Renaissance flutes and lutes to Brno. They adapt polyphonic compositions, various dance forms and airs de cour for their instruments, using historical improvisation techniques such as diminution or bastarda. Sadler & Conrad is an ensemble included in the prestigious pan-European S-EEEmerging project focused on the professional and sustainable development of young early music ensembles. They come to Brno at the invitation of the Concentus Moraviae festival, which is one of the twelve partners of this project. As part of their residency, they will perform at a concert in the series "Barbara Maria Willi presents..." on 7/10 at 7 pm in the Convent of the Brothers of Mercy. more
The prologue of the annual Lednice-Valtice Music Festival took place in Brno's Reduta Theatre on Saturday 20 September 2025. The festival’s opening evening featured the Brno chamber Ensemble Opera Diversa with conductor Gabriela Tardonová. The 10th anniversary year of the festival is subtitled From the New World, which is probably why the dramaturgy focused on young artists - pianist Ayla Bárta and violinist Matteo Hager, as symbolical representatives of the future world. more
With Sunday's opening concert, Filharmonie Brno embarked on its seventieth anniversary season and also its eighth led by conductor Dennis Russell Davies. The Kantiléna children's choir is celebrating the same anniversary as Filharmonie Brno, and so the two ensembles coming together for the opening concert of the season was the perfect choice. At the Janáček Theatre this conjunction was provided by Gustav Mahler's monumental Symphony No. 3 in D minor. The aforementioned performers were complemented by mezzo-soprano Kateřina Hebelková and the Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno. more
Jelena Popržan is a viola player. Born in Serbia, she studied in Austria, where she now lives, and this year she will be a guest at the Brno Music Marathon Festival. On Sunday, 10 August, she will perform in the courtyard of the House of the Lords of Kunštát as part of the Balkan Soirée. We are talking to Jelena Popržan about her path to music, the challenges and joys of playing the viola, the historical perspective of this instrument and the various groups and projects she is involved in. more
This year, more than 41,000 people visited the International Folklore Festival in Strážnice, a record-breaking number. Indeed, a surprising number. Such a vast number of people gathering in one place at a time when the demise of folklore and folklorism had been predicted many times over. What made them do it? This year’s 80th anniversary year certainly helped, but the anniversary alone would not have been enough. What is the charm? Every visitor takes away a different experience, a different memory, a different story. And I will offer you mine now. So, what was my Strážnice 2025 experience like? And did I find the answer to the question of what lies behind its immense appeal? more
The opera King Roger by Polish composer Karol Szymanowski had its Czech première at the Janáček Theatre. The title character was played by Jiří Brückler, the king's consort Roxana was portrayed by Veronika Rovná, Roger's right hand man, the sage Edrisi, was played by Vít Nosek, while Petr Nekoranec appeared as the Shepherd and the main source of Roger's trouble. The role of the High Priest was performed by David Szendiuch; Jana Hrochová appeared as the Deaconess and the soprano and tenor solos were performed by Eva Daňhelová and Pavel Valenta. In addition to the soloists, the Janáček Opera NdB Choir and Orchestra conducted by Martin Buchta and the Brno Children's Choir with choirmaster Valeria Mat'ašová also performed. It was directed by Vladimír John, with set design by Martin Chocholoušek and costumes by Barbora Rašková. The lighting design was by Martin Kroupa and the choreography by Jan Kodet and Michal Heriban. Robert Kružík, who also directed the première performance, took over the musical direction. more
Editorial
Amadeus: Europe’s finest young pianists perform together in Besední dům
Now in its 32nd year, the international Mozart-themed competition Amadeus, open to young pianists up to the age of 15, is a prestigious platform showcasing rising talent. While there is no lower age limit, the upper one is set at fifteen. Amadeus will see 87 children from ten countries compete. The concert showcasing young piano talents from all over Europe will take place in Besední dům. more
Alcina with Magdalena Kožená in the title role
Händel’s Alcina, prepared musically by Václav Luks with Collegium 1704 and staged in Jiří Heřman’s lavish production, returns to the Janáček Theatre stage for just four performances. In the title role, Magdalena Kožená will make a rare appearance. more
Culture Newsletter of the Culture Department of the Brno City Municipality, November 2025
The Brno Culture Newsletter presents an overview of upcoming events and opportunities concerning theatres, clubs and various cultural events in Brno. more
Christmas markets to open with a tree lighting ceremony with Brno City Theatre
Brno Christmas, organised by TIC BRNO, will begin this year on Friday 21 November. On náměstí Svobody, Dominikánské náměstí and in the courtyard of the Old Town Hall, visitors can look forward to an Advent full of lights, music and new surprises. The opening will unfold as a Christmas story brought to life by actors from Brno City Theatre. The 'Ordinary–Extraordinary Family', known from this year’s Brno Christmas posters by illustrator Tomáš SMOT Svoboda, will guide us through the festive afternoon. more
Filharmonie Brno cancels tonight’s concert: María Grand & Maya Keren
The concert organised by Filharmonie Brno has been cancelled as one of the soloists is ill. A replacement date is being arranged. more
The National Theatre Brno launches an online exhibition: In the Role of Kostelnička
The National Theatre Brno invites audiences to explore its online exhibition IN THE ROLE OF KOSTELNIČKA, tracing 120 years of Brno interpretations of one of the most renowned operatic roles. more
BCO's Šestinozí bohatýři - Six-Legged Warriors: Two world premieres and two Czech premieres in Židenice
The theatre hall of Dělnický dům (Workers’ House) in the Brno district of Židenice has, for more than a century, been a place where the worlds of people and beetles meet. Concerts and theatre performances alternate here with entomological fairs and gatherings of lovers of beetles, butterflies, bees and other insects. It is for this reason that the Brno Contemporary Orchestra will present the concert Šestinozí bohatýři (“Six-Legged Warriors”), offering a meeting point between the structured, pragmatic sound world of insects and the chaos, freedom and democratic spirit of human music. The concert will feature two world premieres, two Czech premieres, and one revival of a work originally written for the BCO in 2018. more
Jiří Stivín Behind the Camera – the new book Systém Stivín captures Czechoslovakia in the second half of the 20th century
A unique probe into musical history, a glimpse into the author’s private life, a visual chronicle of Czechoslovakia in the latter half of the twentieth century, a testament to the ever-changing photographic style of the age... The new book Systém Stivín, just published, is all of this. Above all, however, the book proves that Jiří Stivín is a master not only of every conceivable wind instrument, but also of the camera and the craft of photography. This extensive volume contains nearly three hundred images taken by the musician from the 1950s to the present. Editors Jiří Pátek and Roman Franc selected them from more than 50,000 negatives in Stivín’s vast archive. Alongside family snapshots depicting children, wives and parents, the book includes black-and-white images from the "golden sixties," offering valuable testimony to the atmosphere of the era in which Czech popular culture was being born. more
Topol: Echoes of Birds. New ProART premiere
A dance–theatre hommage to bygone times and their masters – Josef Topol, Vlastimil Harapes, Jan Kačer, Marie Tomášová and Jan Tříska. The Brno premiere of the new ProART project will take place at the Löw-Beer Villa. more
News: Petr Štědroň Appointed New Director of the National Theatre Brno
Brno City Council has appointed Petr Štědroň the new Director of the National Theatre Brno. He will take up his post on 1 August 2028, succeeding the current director Martin Glaser, who will step down on 31 July 2028 and move to lead the National Theatre in Prague. more
