30. 9. 2020
2 October 2020 F. X. Šalda Theatre Liberec – The Cunning Little Vixen, 7 p.m., Mahen Theatre
Due to the quarantine of some members of the opera ensemble of the F. X. Šalda Theatre Liberec, this festival performance is cancelled without substitute. Tickets may be returned by 31 October 2020 at the National Theatre Brno Customer Centre, Dvořákova 11.
4 October 2020 Prague Philharmonic Choir, 7 p.m., Besední dům
Due to a temporary indisposition of members of the Prague Philharmonic Choir, this festival concert will be postponed to another date, which has not yet been decided. The new concert date will be published at www.janacek-brno.cz. All information about festival programme changes is available at www.janacek-brno.cz, on the Janáček Brno Facebook page, or you can get information by phone.
21. 9. 2020
The Janáček Brno 2020 international festival is also open to foreign spectators.
On Thursday evening, October 1, a live stream from the premiere performance of The Diary of One Who Disappeared based on Leoš Janáček´s stage directions will be available on the festival website. The main performer will be Pavol Brešlík, one of Slovakia’s leading tenors.
On Sunday morning, October 11, the festival website will offer a live stream of a concert by a world-famous ensemble: the Pavel Haas Quartet.
We hope and believe that we will meet again at the festival in 2022.
19. 9. 2020
Dear spectators,
In order to allow safer movement around the National Theatre Brno buildings during performances, we have decided to divide the Mahen Theatre and Janáček Theatre into two sectors. When you come to watch a performance, please follow the instructions below. If in doubt, do not hesitate to contact the auditorium staff.
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Mahen Theatre
Sector A
– Seats purchased on the ground floor, and 1st rank seating.
– Spectators in sector A will use the door from the side facing the street named Za divadlem as well as the main entrance under the balcony from Malinovský Square. Inside the theatre, visitors can reach their seats via the main three-flight stairway or the side stairway on the right.
– Spectators can use the right side of the cloakroom marked with the letters D, E, F.
– Before the performance and during the break, spectators from Sector A can use the buffet which is on the left (when looking towards Malinovský Square).
Sector B
– Seats purchased in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th ranks.
– Spectators in Sector B will use the entrances in the left corner of the building and the doors from Rooseveltova Street.
– Visitors can reach seating ranks located higher up via all side staircases on the left side of the building.
– They can use the cloakrooms on the left marked with the letters A, B, C.
– Before the performance and during the break, spectators from Sector B can use the buffet which is situated on the right (when looking towards Malinovský Square).
.
Janáček Theatre
Sector A
– Seats purchased on the ground floor and in the 1st rank.
– Spectators can reach Sector A either from the underground parking lot via the side staircase or through the 1st or 2nd door of the main entrance (they will be marked).
– Spectators in Sector A can use the cloakrooms marked with letters A – G.
– Before the performance and during the break they can use the buffets in the 1st rank of seating.
Sector B
– Seats purchased on the balcony.
– Sector B can be entered via the main entrance, through the 3rd door of the main entrance.
– Spectators in Sector B can use the cloakrooms marked with the letters H and I on the left of the entrance.
– Before the performance and during the break, visitors can use the buffet on the ground floor on the left.
– On the way to the balcony, spectators in Sector B can use the left side staircase on the left.
Update 28. 5. 2020
THE JANÁČEK BRNO FESTIVAL WILL TAKE PLACE!
The 6th year of the festival presented Janáček´s stage works in their entirety, while this year´s Janáček Brno will focus on the rapid development in music and art in general that was seen at the beginning of the 20th century, at a time which brought a whirlwind of ideas and new, yet unexplored possibilities. Over the course of almost three weeks, the festival will offer excellent opera productions, a series of concerts and, above all, exceptional artists such as Robert Carsen, Jakub Hrůša, Karita Mattila, Pavol Breslik, the Pavel Haas Quartet, the Bamberger Symphoniker, Jan Bartoš, and others.
The 7th edition of the festival, Janáček Brno 2020 (28th September to 16th October), will undoubtedly build on the extraordinary successes of the previous years of this prestigious biennial. Janáček Brno 2018 was the first festival in the Czech Republic to receive recognition from the highly regarded International Opera Awards – the Best Festival of the Year award.
Despite the difficult situation, the programme announced in December last year has been preserved with only a minimum of changes. “Due to the current restrictions in the world in connection with the COVID-19 virus, the premieres of two productions which were supposed to be presented at the festival in the autumn have not taken place. These are Theatre Bremen’s Jenůfa, directed by Armin Petras, and the production of Jenůfa directed by Claus Guth that was being prepared by London’s Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. We have managed to obtain good replacements for both productions and have even expanded the festival programme to include another premiere by National Theatre Brno’s Janáček Opera ensemble.” (Jiří Heřman, Artistic Director of the Janáček Opera, National Theatre Brno)
Bremen’s Jenůfa will be replaced in the programme by a production of The Cunning Little Vixen from the ensemble of the F. X. Šalda Theatre from Liberec, directed by Linda Keprtová and music director Martin Doubravský. The London production will be replaced by a successful production of Jenůfa directed by Martin Glaser and performed under the baton of National Theatre Brno’s chief conductor Marko Ivanović. “We are extremely delighted that we have managed to attract world-class opera star Karita Mattila, who was originally supposed to perform in the London production, to play the role of Kostelnička in these two special festival productions.” (Martin Glaser, Director of National Theatre Brno)
The premiere of the opera The Greek Passion by Bohuslav Martinů has now been added to the festival programme, staged by National Theatre Brno’s Janáček Opera ensemble. It is directed by Jiří Heřman and music director Robert Kružík, and will be performed on 7th October at the Janáček Theatre. The last change in the programme concerns the concert at the basilica in Old Brno, where Janáček´s Glagolitic Mass and The Eternal Gospel will be performed by Brno Philharmonic with its chief conductor Dennis Russell Davies, instead of by National Theatre Brno’s Janáček Opera orchestra. The concert will feature the Janáček Opera choir from National Theatre Brno.
All the other parts of the festival programme remain as originally announced. The celebratory opening of the festival will thus be devoted to Janáček´s opera Destiny. It is less frequently performed than many of his other works, but was a significant step in the composer´s journey to seek out a new approach to modern opera. The production will be created specially for the festival by the internationally renowned director Robert Carsen in cooperation with the ensemble of the Janáček Opera at National Theatre Brno, and with music direction by chief conductor Marko Ivanović.
The end of the festival will feature an excellent orchestra, the Bamberger Symphoniker, conducted by Jakub Hrůša. Visitors can look forward to song recitals by Tomáš Král and Pavol Breslik, a piano recital by Jan Bartoš and Jan Jiraský, and also choral works delivered by leading Austrian ensemble the Arnold Schoenberg Chor and the Prague Philharmonic Choir. As far as chamber ensembles are concerned, participants will include the Zemlinsky Quartet, PhilHarmonia Octet Prague, Brno Contemporary Orchestra and the Pavel Haas Quartet.