PRESS RELEASE February 27, 2026
The Brno Philharmonic Orchestra has an exceptionally busy month ahead. In March, it will play or organize a total of seventeen concerts, covering a very wide range. In addition to smaller and chamber concerts at the Besední dům, it is preparing large orchestral evenings at the Janáček Theater, two jazz concerts, four children’s concerts, performances by its orchestral academy, and, at the end of the month, it will launch the Easter Festival of Sacred Music. “We can’t remember such a large number of events in one month in recent seasons. We look forward to seeing everyone, and we are convinced that in March, without exaggeration, there will be something for everyone,” said Marie Kučerová, director of the Brno Philharmonic.
The music marathon will start on Thursday, March 5, with a concert featuring award winners. “The winners of international music competitions will perform accompanied by our orchestra. It is usually an evening full of youthful energy and extraordinary talent, this year with compositions by Ravel, Mařatka, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky,” said Vítězslav Mikeš, dramaturge of the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra.
Listeners can admire the playing of three soloists: the 11-year-old violinist Yeonah Kim, who last year became the youngest laureate in the history of the Concertino Prague competition, pianist Maciej Ścierski, the overall winner of the Amadeus 2024 competition, and clarinetist Yan Mařatka, winner of the Leoš Janáček 2024 competition. Yan Mařatka will perform his father Kryštof Mařatka’s composition Luminarium. The work is subtitled A Mosaic of Twenty-Seven Fragments of World Ethnic Music and was performed with great success by the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra eight years ago. “I highly recommend meeting Kryštof Mařatka before the concert, where you can hear original recordings of ethnic music from Albania, Tibet, Japan, Siberia, and many other countries. Thanks to this introduction, listeners will enjoy a kaleidoscope of harmonies and sounds from around the world with much greater understanding,” Kučerová noted.
Young audiences can enjoy two family subscription concerts and two chamber family afternoons with very active participation by children. Two jazz concerts will bring the Kevin Hays Trio, led by the prominent American pianist, and a saxophone and percussion duo with María Grand and Miguel Russell to Brno.
From March 11 to 13, the internationally renowned organist Christian Schmitt will take the stage at Besední dům. On Wednesday, he will perform a solo concert entitled Bach and His Admirers, and on Thursday and Friday, he will perform with an orchestra in a program combining Martinů, Poulenc, and Haydn.
Another trio of themed concerts from March 18 to 20 will celebrate the 80th birthday of Pēteris Vasks, one of the world’s most important contemporary composers. On Wednesday, Terezie Fialová will perform his piano cycle Gadaliaki (Four Seasons), which captures the atmosphere of Nordic nature. On Thursday and Friday, Vasks’s Violonello Concerto No. 1 will be performed by Jiří Bárta. The concert at the Janáček Theater will be complemented by Hamlet: A Shakespeare Scenario, the thrilling music of William Walton from the Oscar-winning Hamlet, which will be accompanied by Shakespeare’s monologues performed by the famous English actor Simon Callow.
The last three days of March belong to the opening part of the Easter Festival of Sacred Music, organized by the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra will open the festival on Sunday, March 29, together with soprano Simona Šaturová and the Prague Philharmonic Choir. “The first notes will belong to Henri Tomassi’s Liturgical Fanfares, followed by James MacMillan’s Larghetto. The opening will culminate with Francis Poulenc’s Stabat Mater, which is one of the most beautiful musical settings of this medieval sequence,” emphasized festival dramaturge Vladimír Maňas. The next evening will feature an organ recital with late Romantic compositions, and March will conclude with a meditative composition, Exile by Giya Kancheli, which will be performed in the new church in Lesná.
Tickets for some concerts are already sold out, but others can be purchased in advance at the philharmonic box office, on site, or online at filharmonie-brno.cz or velikonocni-festival.cz. The complete program of March concerts can be found here.
Media contact: Kateřina Konečná, Head of PR and Marketing, Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, +420 775 426 040, katerina.konecna@filharmonie-brno.cz
