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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

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

He made an indelible mark in the history of Czech and thus Czechoslovak ethnomusicology with his in-depth research into folk music and songs in Horňácko and elsewhere, and also with the range of songs he recorded. In addition, he laid the foundations for study into the Romani Holocaust. On 25 April this year, Horňácko-born ethnographer and singer Dušan Holý would have celebrated his 92nd birthday. He left us forever in January, but he left behind a body of work that deserves to be remembered.  more

Polish female trio Sutari will be performing at the 10th annual Brno Music Marathon festival. They've performed hundreds of concerts in more than 20 countries, including a performance at the 2015 WOMEX World Music Fair and a live session for American radio KEXP. They've released several award-winning albums, the most recent of which, from 2024, is called #kołysankidlaświata and features lullabies. Their music combines traditional Polish songs with modern elements and touches on themes of nature, freedom, femininity and sisterhood. Sutari will open the festival's World Music stage on Saturday 9 August in the Brno club První patro. Our questions were answered by all three group members together - Basia Songin, Kasia Kapela and Dobromiła Życzyńska.  more

The now world-famous Swedish band Dirty Loops finished their autumn European tour on Saturday, 30 November at Brno's Metro Music Bar. The band featured on the programme of the seventeenth annual Groove Brno funk, soul and jazz festival. The virtuoso trio, consisting of Jonah Nilsson - vocals and keyboards, Henrik Linder - bass guitar and Aron Mellergård - drums, are famous for their flawless technical proficiency, sophisticated original compositions and cover versions of well-known numbers, especially pop songs. However, these songs are often reharmonised in their arrangements and the style is more a combination of disco, pop and jazz fusion. To avoid having to resort to using pre-recorded backing tracks, the trio was joined on tour by keyboardist and vocalist Kristian Kraftling.  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 Brno-based singer-songwriter Yana recorded her first album Journey of the Soul in Dublin, Ireland, and invited a number of top Irish musicians to join her in the studio.  more

The Brno Philharmonic’s headquarters and one of Brno’s most important historical and cultural landmarks – the Besední dům – celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. Exactly on 3 April 1873, when the auditorium (great hall) of the building designed by architect Theophil von Hansen, author of the famous Musikverein in Vienna, was ceremonially opened, this magnificent building became the centre of Brno’s culture and its distinctive artistic life. A century and a half later – on Monday 1 May 2023 – an afternoon gathering and a subsequent concert entitled When Smetana First Played in Brno. . . will launch a series of concerts that pay tribute to unique milestones in the city’s cultural history.  more

Singer-songwriter Martina Trchová, winner of the Anděl award for her album Holobyt, recently disbanded her band and now performs mainly as a soloist. She is slowly working on a new album and is also focusing on visual arts. Her new book Babi, will soon be published, and she’ll also be holding another festival in the Obřany district of Brno.  more