Metalfest in Pilsen is has become a highly respected metal tradition. The fans came to favour the festival not only for its great musical dramaturgy of many genres of metal but also for its unique natural environment in which it takes place. The beautiful amphitheatre in Lochotín, where you can see from any place beautifully on the podium, surrounded by a park and meadows, adjacent to the Pilsen ZOO, all just a short walk from the centre of the West Bohemian metropolis of Pilsen. Three days full of the best metal music and fun, that's Metalfest!
The Kutná Hora International Music Festival is one of the most important chamber music festivals in the Czech Republic. The creator of the dramaturgy and the selection of artists is the artistic director - cellist Jiří Bárta.
Unfortunately, even this year 2021 is associated with covid uncertainty. Last year we managed to hold the festival, albeit on a shifted date, with drapes and all hygienic measures. We all hope and believe in the improvement of the situation, and that is why we are preparing another, already the 14th year of the Kutná Hora festival.
MFKH has become an inseparable part of cultural events in the city with high attendance from all over the Czech Republic and abroad. Since we could not invite foreign artists last year, we decided to move the performance of all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas in Konstantin Lifschitz's masterful interpretation to this year. This very significant work of art will be divided into 8 evenings. This increases the total number of chamber music concerts to 16 concerts. We believe that not only for Kutná Hora, this festival will be something truly exceptional this year. In addition to this important project, compositions of classical chamber literature by world-famous authors (Haydn, Mozart, Vivaldi, etc.) will be heard, as well as contemporary and rarely mentioned authors (Tartini, Barber, Kabeláč, Klusák, Górecki, etc.).
Jiří Bárta traditionally connects chamber music concerts and complements them with projects at the crossroads of genres. He included Bach's cantata Ich habe genug (I already have enough of everything) in the program of the 14th Kutná Hora festival for solo bass, oboe and strings connected with an epic poem by Arnošt Lustig performed by Vilma Cibulková, Jiří Lábus and Vilém Udatný entitled "Cantata - Dance of the Mad". The theme of the musical-lyrical band is death as liberation from a world permeated with misery and despair and is an indictment of the most horrific crime in human history.
A traditional open-air music festival, which annually brings unforgettable musical evenings in the large castle courtyard to the inhabitants and visitors of Brno. In addition to large symphonic works, it also offers connections with other genres under the summer sky, and thus tries to make classical music accessible to those who might not otherwise get to it.
The civic association MLADÁ PRAHA - INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL has set itself the goal of helping promising young beginning artists in the field of classical music - instrumentalists, singers, chamber ensembles, conductors, but also composers. We want to facilitate the beginnings of their artistic career through concerts at the international level and enable the establishment of friendships with young musicians from all over the world.
Thus was born the idea of founding an international music festival. The initiators, representatives of the International Music Society in Munich (IMGM - Internationale Musikgesellschaft München) decided in 1990 to locate it in Czechoslovakia and chose the name Mladá Praha. In 1992, at the turn of August and September, the first festival took place with the participation of artists of eight nationalities from Peru to Japan. During 1992, a Japanese committee of the Young Prague Festival was also established in Tokyo with the task of selecting the most interesting young musicians from Asia. Thanks to the constant support of Japanese companies permanently operating in the Czech Republic, the Ministry of Culture and several sponsors from the Czech Republic, whose support we greatly appreciate, it has been possible to hold twenty-five years of the festival. In total, over 900 young artists from most European countries, as well as from the USA, Canada, Peru, India, Mexico, China, Korea and Japan performed at more than 350 concerts. In addition to soloists, a number of orchestras and choirs performed here.
The Moravian Autumn Festival is one of the most important cultural events in the Czech Republic. It was established as the Brno International Music Festival in 1966, when the activities of Brno's artistic institutions took on an international dimension again after years of rigid isolation, and the first year of the festival had a very positive response.
In 1987, a multi-day festival of contemporary music called Exposition of New Music was established under the auspices of the MHFB, and since 1995 it has been expanding with the Easter Festival of Sacred Music.
Moravian Autumn invites to Brno orchestras that have passed Europe so far, chamber ensembles belonging to the world's top, soloists decorating world stages. It is not only an interpretive festival that tries to bring the world's top to Brno and confront it with domestic first-class musicians, but also a program one; it's not just "about the stars" (and their competition at all), but also about the content.
We see the great contribution of the Moravian Autumn in the search for new and interesting dramaturgical lines, addressing living authors and the creation of new works. The festival also draws attention to young and talented performers, giving them the opportunity to excel. In 2015, Erkki-Sven Tüür, who, together with Arvo Pärt and Veljo Tormis, is one of the most important contemporary Estonian composers, was revived.
Moravian Autumn is a member of the Czech Association of Festivals (CAF) and is held once every two years (biennial).
The organizer is the Brno Philharmonic, a contributory organization of the statutory city of Brno.
The Prague Spring International Music Festival is a permanent showcase for outstanding performing artists, symphony orchestras and chamber music ensembles of the world.
The international interdisciplinary festival SMETANOVSKÉ DNY, which belongs to the calendar of the most important cultural events in Pilsen for more than thirty years, represents tradition and the certainty that there are still lasting values that can be relied on. For music and art lovers in general, it is a real holiday that brings extraordinary experiences every year. In the top performance of important ensembles and leading performers of our and foreign scene, listeners can listen to well-known masterpieces in traditional and new contexts, as well as musical novelties. The interdisciplinarity, which stood at the very beginning of the festival in the form of a scientific symposium devoted to the issues of Czech culture of the 19th century, is maintained. Within the cultural context, the festival is rare in that it connects the world of music with the world of science, philosophy, literature, fine arts, theater and film. An integral part of the festival is also the involvement of Pilsen artists and performers.
The Strings of Autumn were established in 1996 during the tenure of Czech President Václav Havel by the curators of music events at Prague Castle, Marek Vrabec and Martin Pechanec. In the first eight years of the festival’s existence in the castle itself, the Strings of Autumn were distinguished by original programming and exceptional concerts, such as Cecil Taylor’s recital, the Czech premiere of Michael Nyman, or Jan Garbarek’s concert with the Hilliard Ensemble.
The list of artists and projects, which the festival has introduced to the Czech Republic for the first time ever throughout its 21-year span, stands as a rare accomplishment: Brad Mehldau, Bobby McFerrin, Cecil Taylor, Gregory Porter, Cassandra Wilson, Gil Shaham, Daniel Hope, Ghostpoet, Young Fathers, Chris Thile, Jason Moran, and many others. The Strings of Autumn have also initiated new projects and productions, such as the opera Don Juan in Prague in co-production with the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the theatrical rendition of Schubert’s Winter Journey at the Barrandov studios, or the live performance of Zdeněk Liška’s music to the film Markéta Lazarová. The festival systematically introduces the leading composers of today to Prague – including the likes of Michael Nyman, Gavin Bryars, Steve Reich, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, or this year’s legendary Terry Riley. The Strings of Autumn initiate artistic encounters that can prove to be life-changing. One example among many is Gregory Porter’s acquaintance with the Czech Hammond keyboardist Ondřej Pivec, which launched their Grammy Award-winning collaboration.
Each year the festival treads the pioneering path to broader musical horizons. Every concert is a major event of its type and genre. The Strings of Autumn offer music that you will not hear anywhere else.
