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In the next ten years, Haydn's music festivals intend to present the work of the main musical "nations" or regions within the individual festival years, which contributed to the formation of classicist musical language, which soon established itself as a universal musical language used worldwide. This dramaturgical principle will significantly enrich the existing principles (focus on compositional anniversaries, regional musical sources, great major works of the classicist era). The intention of the organizers is to dedicate 40-50% of the festival's concert performances to musical "nations".
Italy has a decisive position among these nations. Therefore, the 29th year of the festival (2021) will be dedicated to Italian and Italian-inspired music of the 17th and 18th centuries. Italian musical inspiration has dominated world music for more than three centuries, culminating in the period of classicism (16th - 19th centuries). It was the Italian composers at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries who formulated a new way of compositional work, based on more intensive work with musical material. Thanks to this, new musical genres saw the light of day in the Italian environment, which then dominated the next centuries (concert, symphonies, etc.), some others then gained new developmental inspiration (sonata, opera, etc..).

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The Antonín Dvořák Music Festival boasts a long tradition, during which its organizers managed to establish it among high-level cultural events and, in the venues, of paramount importance. It was established in 1969 on the initiative of the Antonín Dvořák Society (then chaired by Dr. Karel Mikys) and the District Cultural Center in Příbram, to which the Ministry of Culture promised financial support at the time. And the support was by no means small, because at that time it made it possible to invite such orchestras as the Czech Philharmonic, the FOK Symphony Orchestra of the Capital City of Prague, the PKO, the Slovak Philharmonic or the Film Symphony Orchestra. During these years, however, the festival also included a number of excellent ensembles from abroad. The people of Příbram were also able to witness top performances such as the Leningrad Philharmonic and the Moscow State Philharmonic, and last but not least, the Warsaw State Philharmonic or the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London with conductors Mark Emler, Charles Groves, Arvid Jansons and Dimitri Kitajen. After 1989, however, similarly as in the whole cultural sphere, significant organizational changes took place here. Since 1990, the organization Příbram Theater has taken over its organization, where (perhaps) due to the lack of financial resources, the festival stuck to three to five concerts, mostly only chamber music.

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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.

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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.

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