The international Janáček Brno festival has put together a packed programme for its 10th edition in 2026, held under the motto Roots. At the heart of the festival are performances of all the operas of Leoš Janáček (1854–1928), staged by the Janáček Opera company of the National Theatre Brno. Thursday’s programme featured The Excursions of Mr Brouček, conducted by Marko Ivanović. The production’s director, Robert Carsen, also travelled to Brno for the occasion.
The biennial festival has been promoting Janáček’s artistic legacy internationally since 2004. This year, the programme reflects the festival’s theme of Roots by highlighting the composer’s inspiration from sacred and folk music. Alongside performances of his complete operatic works, the festival offers a concert series featuring Czech and international artists, together with exhibitions, a conference and workshops.
Janáček completed his fifth opera, The Excursions of Mr Brouček, in 1916, drawing on two well-known stories by Svatopluk Čech (1846–1908): The True Excursion of Mr Brouček to the Moon and The New Epoch-Making Excursion of Mr Brouček, This Time to the 15th Century. The story satirises the frivolity and shallow values of the petty bourgeois Matěj Brouček. The two-act opera moves between a pub, the Moon and Prague during the Hussite Wars. Robert Carsen’s production transports the action to the turbulent 1960s. The first act unfolds against the backdrop of the first American crewed Moon landing, while the second depicts events in Prague during the Soviet occupation and Czechoslovakia’s ice hockey victory over the USSR at the Winter Olympics.
The performance opened with a set designed to resemble a 1960s television, showing footage of beer production and the first Moon landing (video art by Dominik Žižka), cleverly synchronised with the orchestral overture. This provided a seamless transition to the pub scene, where a smaller television stood in the corner. The traditional Czech pub even featured a tank of brewing beer, which was ingeniously transformed in the following act into a spaceship carrying Mr Brouček to the Moon in his dreams (set design by Radu Boruzescu, lighting by Peter van Praet). In the second act, the playful staging gave way to a stark grey set, allowing the singers more scope to convey the drama. The events shown on the television were not the only references to 1968. Annemarie Woods’s colourful costumes reflected 1960s fashions, even for the characters in space. The iconic depiction of the Woodstock festival in the second scene fitted perfectly with Mr Brouček’s encounter with otherworldly artists. The references to famous artists, conveyed through carefully designed costumes and vinyl records, were particularly ingenious.
Tenor Nicky Spence gave an impressive performance in the title role of Matěj Brouček. Neither the demands of Czech pronunciation nor the challenging vocal part seemed to faze him, and he succeeded in bringing the character’s thoroughly unappealing nature across to the audience. Daniel Matoušek played the young Mazal, his penetrating voice superbly conveying both his fearlessness in battle and his tender love for Málinka. She was played by Jana Sibera, whose character experiences love, fear and the loss of her father. A particularly beautiful moment was her solo aria, sung in her lunar guise as Etherea, expressing her love for Mr Brouček. David Szendiuch, as Málinka’s emotional father, combined assertive body language with convincing facial expressions. Jan Šťáva once again lived up to expectations, tackling the contrasting roles of the innkeeper Würfl, Čaroskvoucí and the Town Councillor with great commitment and vocal skill. With its large cast and prominent, highly active chorus, the opera allowed for almost constant movement on stage, meticulously choreographed by Rebecca Howell. Unfortunately, the sheer amount of activity came at the expense of the chorus’s musical performance, as the singers frequently struggled to keep pace with the orchestra. Janáček’s richly coloured orchestration suited the Janáček Opera orchestra under Marko Ivanović perfectly. The evocative orchestral passages, the poets’ lyrical arias and the Hussites’ battle cries were all performed with impressive clarity.
In this opera, Janáček found a bitter balance between biting satire and playful mockery. The creative team successfully incorporated contrasting historical events from the United States and Czechoslovakia into the production. At times, however, the staging was somewhat less effective, obscuring the composer’s original intentions. Overall, the imaginative approach to the story and the choice of singers made for a unique artistic experience.
At the end of the evening, Robert Carsen received the Leoš Janáček Memorial Medal from Šárka Zahrádková, Director of the Leoš Janáček Foundation, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the direction and interpretation of Janáček’s operas.
Programme:
Leoš Janáček
The Excursions of Mr Brouček
Creative team:
Conductor – Marko Ivanović
Director – Robert Carsen
Set design – Radu Boruzescu
Costumes – Annemarie Woods
Lighting design – Robert Carsen / Peter van Praet
Choreography – Rebecca Howell
Dramaturgy – Robert Carsen / Patricie Částková
Choirmasters – Martin Buchta / Pavel Koňárek
Video – Dominik Žižka
Performers:
Matěj Brouček – Nicky Spence
Mazal / Blankytný / Petřík – Daniel Matoušek
Sacristan / Lunobor / Domšík – David Szendiuch
Málinka / Etherea / Kunka – Jana Sibera
Würfl / Čaroskvoucí / Town Councillor – Jan Šťáva
Waiter / Child Prodigy / Pupil – Andrea Široká
Kedruta – Jana Horáková Levicová
Svatopluk Čech – Daniel Kfelíř
Poet / Another Voice / Oblačný / Vacek Bradatý – Tadeáš Hoza
Painter / Professor’s Voice / Duhoslav / Vojta – Vít Nosek
Composer / Harfoboj / Miroslav Zlatník – Ondřej Koplík
First Taborite – Petr Karas
Another Poet / Second Taborite – Pavel Valenta
Poet – Martin Pavlíček
Chorus and Orchestra of the Janáček Opera, National Theatre Brno, dancers and extras
Thursday 15 October 2026 at 7 pm, Janáček Theatre, Brno
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