Flawless opening of the Concentus Moraviae Festival

The latest concert in the Exposition of New Music festival, held yesterday at Brno’s Besední dům, was devoted entirely to piano music. It took listeners into the fascinating world of spectral music, the instrument’s internal acoustic structures and the phenomena of resonance. To bring the instrument’s hidden transformations of sound and natural inharmonicity fully to the fore, two different types of piano stood in the centre of the hall: a standard grand and a modified piano, with rubber inserts and beaters placed among the strings.  more

A deep dive into the world of spectral music, acoustic experimentation and free improvisation awaited audiences at a concert held on Tuesday at Brno’s Besední dům as part of the 38th Exposition of New Music festival, subtitled Ars Spectrum. The evening brought together three works exploring the limits of listening, the inner structure of sound and the interplay between the concert hall and the world outside. A defining feature of the concert was the unconventional use of space: rather than sitting on stage, the musicians were positioned in the middle of the hall, surrounded by the audience, microphones and loudspeakers.  more

As part of the 23rd edition of the early music concert series Barbara Maria Presents, a chamber concert devoted to Dvořák’s early songs took place on 1 October. The Brno audience had a unique opportunity to encounter Antonín Dvořák from a different perspective – not as the mature master of the great symphonies, but as a composer who, in the 1870s, was still experimenting and searching for his own musical language, while also exploring the foundations of effective Czech declamation. Soprano Martina Janková and harpsichordist, organist and fortepianist Barbara Maria Willi presented a programme of songs complemented by piano miniatures by Robert Schumann.  more

Brno Philharmonic opened its 2026/2027 concert season on Sunday 20 September at the Janáček Theatre. The orchestra was joined for the occasion by guest conductor Petr Altrichter, its former chief conductor. Under the motto All Roads Lead to Brno, this season’s repertoire brings together composers and musical events with connections to the city and its rich cultural life. The opening concert therefore featured Johannes Brahms’s Symphony No. 2, a particularly fitting choice given that Brahms performed as a pianist at Brno’s Reduta in 1867. The programme opened with César Franck’s symphonic poem Psyché, for which the orchestra was joined by the Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno under the direction of Petr Fiala.  more

The tenth edition of the international opera and music festival Janáček Brno 2026 will take place from 13 October to 17 November 2026. With Janáček’s complete operatic output at its heart, alongside a programme of concerts and accompanying events, the festival offers a unique celebration of the composer’s work on an international scale. As part of the festival preview, National Theatre Brno is presenting four operas by Leoš Janáček (1854–1928) ahead of the festival itself. The series began on Saturday, 5 September, with The Makropulos Affair, which also opened Brno’s 2026/27 opera season.  more

The fifth edition of the Štetl Fest of Jewish culture in Brno began on Wednesday, 26 August. And the very first day had a great deal to offer. Among other things, it showed that even an alternative theatre venue can host a world-class concert – and one that is free of charge. The opening ceremony featured a performance by the band Der Šenster Gob, with Jewish singer Lea Kalisch, in the courtyard of the Husa na provázku theatre.  more

The summer open-air Festival Špilberk, organised by the Brno Philharmonic, brought classical music and other genres to the grand courtyard of Brno’s Špilberk Castle during the third week of August. The festival’s 27th edition culminated on Sunday, 23 August, with Carl Orff’s cantata Carmina Burana, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies with the Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno. The concert also marked a symbolic farewell to trombonist Jiří Vydra, who brought his 45-year career with the Brno Philharmonic to a close that evening.  more

The Špilberk Festival organised by the Brno Philharmonic has put together a rich programme for the third week of August. This year’s 27th edition of the traditional open-air festival will once again fill the grand castle courtyard with music, with the aim of making classical music accessible even during the summer holidays. Tenor Štefan Margita chose this occasion to celebrate his 70th birthday. Together with soprano Jana Šrejma Kačírková and conductor Jan Kučera, Margita presented a concert of opera and musical arias on Saturday, 22 August.  more

Every year, ahead of the new concert season, the Brno Philharmonic organises the week-long open-air Špilberk Festival in the great courtyard of Brno’s Špilberk Castle, featuring a diverse programme of genres and ensembles.  On Thursday, 20 August, the festival project entitled Erik Truffaz & Gustav Brom Czech Radio Big Band: Around Miles was performed to commemorate the centenary of the birth of jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. This third concert in the series was co-produced with JazzFest Brno and Czech Radio and broadcast live on Czech Radio’s Vltava station.  more

The third concert of the 35th BRNO ’26 International Guitar Festival and Masterclasses took place on Tuesday, 4 August, in the Council Chamber of the New Town Hall. World-renowned guitarist Jorge Caballero presented a solo recital of works by classical composers arranged for acoustic guitar. On this occasion, the festival director Vladislav Bláha and his wife Tatiana Bláha Drobyš presented their new CD Dances Across the World and Through Time.  more

The concert by the Brno Contemporary Orchestra in the courtyard of Brno’s Špilberk Castle on Tuesday, 16 June, offered the audience a chance to hear the castle’s carillon in quite a different guise – as a solo musical instrument. Entitled Vězeňské zvony (Prison Bells), the performance alluded not only to the existence and function of the carillon itself but also to the complex history of the castle. The concert featured harpsichordist Daria Savvateeva, soprano Irena Troupová, and Petr Hladík as carillon player.  more

The prologue to the Concentus Moraviae festival took place, unusually, in the Italian city of Cremona – home of the Walter Stauffer Foundation and Academy, which nurtures string teaching and the city’s traditions – as early as mid-April. This year the Foundation concluded a memorandum of cooperation with the festival, resulting in the String Quartet Master Classes project in Kroměříž on 16–18 June. The stage was set on 15 June at Pernštejn Castle, where the Italian Quartetto di Cremona joined forces with cellist Peter Jarůšek for a memorable concert.  more

The final concert of the 14th season of the Bacha na Mozarta (Watch Out for Mozart) series drew audiences to the Minorite Church of St John on Monday, 8 June, for a programme drawing on the collections of the Kroměříž Music Archive. The evening’s programme brought together specific liturgical forms with the representational demands of the courtly culture of the time. Performed by the SILENTIUM! ensemble under the direction of Tomáš Netopil and with choral preparation by Tereza Válková, the concert featured works by Pavel Josef Vejvanovský, Giovanni Felice Sances, Franz Ignaz Biber, and Philipp Jacob Rittler, some in their modern-day premieres.  more

The Concentus Moraviae festival presented its sixteenth concert of the year, thematically dedicated to the number four, at Valtice Castle on Sunday, 7 June. This year’s international showcase brings together quartets of the most varied instrumental combinations and genres, presenting programmes across Moravia and Lower Austria centred on the quartet repertoire. In this spirit, the Baroque theatre of Valtice Castle hosted, in collaboration with the Young Classical Artists Trust, a concert focused on world music performed by the international Fibonacci Quartet. The young quartet – specifically Kryštof Kohout and Luna De Mol on violin, Elliot Kempton on viola, and Findlay Spence on cello – chose masterpieces by Leoš Janáček (1854–1928) and Béla Bartók (1881–1945).  more

The cycle of classical music concerts directed by its founder, Barbara Maria Willi, has been an integral part of cultural events in the Moravian capital for twenty-three years. The audience in Brno has already been introduced to a number of  outstanding personalities and ensembles with whom Barbara Maria Willi regularly cooperates. This year's opening concert, traditionally held on Wednesday, 11 February, in the hall of the Convent of the Merciful Brothers with a subtitle Music in Motion offered a combination of the art of the fortepiano with flute played by Sofia Mavrogenidou and accompanied by young dancers Klementýna Anna Špičková and Adam Mišo, choreographed by David Strnad.  more