Moravian Autumn

The Moravian Autumn festival ranks among the most important cultural events in the Czech Republic. It was established as the Brno International Music Festival in 1966 when, following years of strict isolation imposed by hard-line communism, the activities of Brno artistic institutions were once again acquiring an international dimension, and the responses to its first year were very positive.

The festival invites orchestras to Brno that were previously passing Europe by, alongside top chamber ensembles and the world’s most celebrated soloists. It is not only a festival of “interpretation” which seeks to bring to Brno the cream of the world’s performers and to compare them with first-class home musicians, but also a festival of “programming”, one that is not only about “stars” (and certainly not about “competition” between them), but also about “substance”.
Moravian Autumn takes pride in seeking new and interesting threads of programming, approaching living composers and giving them commissions. The festival also draws attention to young performers, giving them an opportunity to display their developing talents.

Composer Jan Novák and the 100th anniversary of his birth. Minimalism and its current trends in American, Czech and Russian environments of Armenia. These are the three principal dramaturgical focal points of this 51st festival year. A multitude of concerts, events, musical encounters at unconventional venues and theatrical performances in their world and Czech premieres have been arranged over seventeen days in October.

The festival has its own website.

Upcoming concerts

october 2021

fri01oct19:00OPENING CONCERT / Moravian AutumnJ. NOVÁK Choreae Philharmonicae
SCHWERTSIK Nachtmusiken
GLASS Symphony No. 12 „Lodger“19:00 Janáčkovo divadloGenre and style:Koncerty šéfdirigentaFestivals:Moravský podzim

Time

(Friday) 19:00

Location

Janáčkovo divadlo

Rooseveltova 31/7, 602 00 Brno

AVAILABLE AS „CREATE THE FESTIVAL“. SYSTEM AUTOMATICALLY GIVES YOU A DISCOUNT OF
20% for 2 different concerts / 30% for 3 / 40% for 4 / 50% for 5 and more CONCERTS

Event Details

JAN NOVÁK Philharmonic Dances

KURT SCHWERTSIK Nachtmusiken (Night musics), Op. 104, Czech premiere

PHILIP GLASS Symphony No. 12 „Lodger“

Angélique Kidjo voice

Christian Schmitt organ

Filharmonie Brno

conductor Dennis Russell Davies

The opening concert of Moravian Autumn 2021 could not start more characteristically: it is introduced by the Philharmonic Dances, composed by Jan Novák (1921–1984) for Filharmonie Brno in 1956, the year the orchestra was founded.

Nachtmusiken, a distinctive, polystylistic work in five movements, was written by Kurt Schwertsik (born 1935), one of Austria’s most noted contemporary composers, in 2010. The name refers to the two “night musics” of Mahler’s Seventh Symphony and Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik, suggesting the nature of the work, which oscillates between the weightiness of a symphony and the lightness of a serenade.

Philip Glass (born 1937) long neglected the traditional genre of the symphony, and only composed his first aged 55. Today he has 12 distinctive symphonies to his name, of which the most recent, Symphony No. 12 “Lodger”, premiered in January 2019 by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of John Adams at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, completes his trilogy inspired by the famous “Berlin” albums made in the 1970s by David Bowie, Brian Eno and the American producer Tony Visconti. While Symphony No. 1 “Low” (1992) and Symphony No. 4 “Heroes” (1996) use the music from the legendary records as the foundation for Glass’s purely instrumental pieces, of the album Lodger Glass adopted only the lyrics, which he set to his original music in a vocal symphony. The performers are the Beninese star of world music and three-time Grammy winner Angélique Kidjo, for whom Glass wrote the work, and the German organist Christian Schmitt. Filharmonie Brno will be led by Chief Conductor Dennis Russell Davies, a friend and artistic partner of Glass for many years. The same forces were combined in the first Czech performance of the symphony at the Prague Spring festival this year, but that was only streamed, with no audience in the hall.

Under the auspices of H. E. Bettina Kirnbauer, Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to the Czech Republic.

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