Colours of Ostrava is an international, multi-genre music festival organised annually in Ostrava since 2002. In 2012, the festival was moved to the entrancing surroundings of Dolní Vítkovice – an area that used to belong to metallurgical works, mines and ironworks. We are a free and independent festival for free and independent artists and festivalgoers. We don’t subscribe to any genre and are only open to showcasing sensitive, dynamic as well as uplifting projects with a similar philosophy to our own.
Czech Music Crossroads is an international conference and a showcase festival. An international platform attended by the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and a guest country. Carefully selected bands focusing on local roots, acoustic music, folk, fusion and jazz perform for international audience of invited professionals, promoters and journalists. Two best groups will be awarded The Czech Music Crossroads Award.
The showcase selection is not restricted to new talent, but aimed in general at artists who can easily cross the language barrier, regardless of the length of professional experience. The bands are selected by experts of each corresponding country.
Exporting music is the focal point of the conference, which also includes discussions about present-day musical or social topics. Experts from around the world will train musicians and showcase performers from the participating countries at interactive workshops on how to win recognition in the international competition; they will also provide practical advice for their musical careers. International producers, music reviewers and experts in music distribution will act as lecturers – those with long-term experience in distributing Czech recordings on the international market. Speed dating is another activity typical for international events. International experts and/or festival organisers can be consulted by registered local artists or managers at one-to-one meetings to receive advice on strategy and artistic growth.
The International Music Festival Dobršská Brána will again offer a refreshing insight into the world of contemporary music without dramaturgical compromises and a formal genre classification of performers. In their work they present, they freely switch between genres and combine elements of folk music with jazz and chamber music. This corresponds to the specific dramaturgy of the festival and its motto “The Gate to the World of Music”.
The festival continues and fits into the global trend of seraching for new connections between traditional, classical and contemporary music and thus creates a unique musical event that would hardly find a comparison on the Czech music scene. At the same time, the festival gives a new impulse for meeting of world musicians and the Czech audience on the spot for many visitors unusual, yet with a long musical tradition, outside the Czech metropolis. The success of the past year is supported by musical responses from the audience and critics’ reviews by proving that the focus of the festival has been a step in the right direction. During the two-day period, the second year presented performers from Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Japan, USA, Germany, Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic. So the event took place with a truly European overlap.
The Karel Ditters International Music Festival from Dittersdorf is a festival that has been held every year since 1993, mainly in the town of Javorník, partly in the town of Jeseník and its surroundings. During this time, it has become an integral part of the cultural autumn of the entire Jesenice region. It is also one of the most significant and significant projects implemented within the Olomouc Region, and its existence thus clearly proves that lively cultural activity does not escape even its northernmost region. Its annual implementation is provided by the Karel Ditters Association of Dittersdorf.
And so every autumn is traditionally carried in the spirit of Baroque sophistication, with which Karel Ditters is undoubtedly closely connected and whose work the entire festival is actually primarily dedicated to. The central idea of the whole festival is an effort to present classical music at the highest professional level to all residents of our border region, as well as to professional audiences. However, Ditters' name is not just a kind of "moral-musical regional authority" in the name of the festival, on the contrary, every year of the festival the compositions of this author appear in the repertoire of many musical ensembles, which is also one of the festival's conditions. Another is the effort to open the festival stage to young and beginning performers, often the winners of the Prague Spring or other competitions. Last but not least, it is also an effort to invite, as, after all, in the name of the festival, musicians from abroad, or at least musical ensembles with the representation of foreign performers, to the festival days.
The Petr Dvorský Music Festival focuses mainly on the human voice. In many genres, from classics of all periods to pop, jazz and folklore, top Czech and foreign artists present themselves at it. In addition to its patron Petr Dvorský, the festival hosted, for example, Jelena Obrazcová, Kiri Te Kanawa, Montserrat Caballé, Karel Gott, Lucia Bílá, Mira Žbirka and Ewa Farná.
Fryderyk Chopin's company in the Czech Republic is one of the oldest music companies in the world - it was founded on June 10, 1959 at the initiative of several people who did not even know about themselves at first. However, they dealt with the Chopin theme and especially Chopin's stay in our territory, especially in Prague, Karlovy Vary and Mariánské Lázně.
The efforts of these researchers came together to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Fryderyk Chopin, which fell in 1960 and was commemorated by the whole world under the auspices of UNESCO. The deepest expression of respect for the Polish composer and a living reminder of his stay in Mariánské Lázně is his music. The idea of presenting the Company with a music festival was born. It sounds every year in the second half of August. From the beginning it was the "Festive Chopin Days", since 1969 it has been a well-known name Chopin Festival. Chopin International Festival is the third oldest music festival in our country.
After 1990, the Fryderyk Chopin Society in Mariánské Lázně became a member of the International Federation of Chopin Societies (IFCS). The federation, based in Vienna, has been registered as a musical, world community under the auspices of UNESCO. Thanks to its membership in the International Federation of Chopin Societies (IFCS), the company is listed as the only Czech music company on this list.
Since 1992, the famous piano star - professor Ivan Klánský - has been winning the festival with an artistic feeling. Pianist MgA. Martin Kasík, vice-chairman of the Society and artistic director of the festival, has been preparing the festival's dramaturgy since 2004. In addition to increasing the artistic and social prestige of the Chopin Festival in Mariánské Lázně, the company's priority is also extraordinary support and care for young talents in piano art.
In 2009, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Poland presented the "Gloria Artis" award to the 50th anniversary of the Fryderyk Chopin Society. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland awarded prof. Ivan Klánský in 2014 on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the F. Chopin Company, an honorary Bene Merito badge for merits in promoting Polish culture. In 2017, prof. Ivan Klánský is the prestigious Antonín Dvořák Award, which is awarded annually by the Academy of Classical Music to personalities who, with their life's work or extraordinary artistic achievement, have significantly contributed to the promotion and popularization of Czech classical music at home and abroad. Prof. On May 1, 2018, Ivan Klánský received a Garnet Star awarded by the Bohemian Heritage Fund (BHF) at his concert in Prague's Rudolfinum. "I was extremely pleased with the news of my Grenade Star award in the year of my life anniversary. I consider it a great honor to be in the company of two such great personalities of our musical life who received this award before me - professors Zuzana Růžičková and Mrs. Soňa Červená. I really appreciate this important award ", said prof. Ivan Klánský.
The company cooperates intensively on the preparations for the festival and other events with the Polish Institute and the City of Mariánské Lázně, which is already the traditional co-organizer of the Chopin Festival.
