Jakub Hrůša is one of the internationally recognized conductors who will be part of Janáček Brno 2020. Photo credit: NdB, Andreas Herzau.
Brno, Dec 5 (BD) – Though it is nine months away, tickets have gone on sale for Janáček Brno 2020, the seventh international opera and music festival that bears the name of Leoš Janáček, one of our city’s most famous residents.
The festival will have 28 productions in 19 days from Sept. 28 to Oct. 16, 2020, with some of the leading directors and performers in the world, such as Robert Carsen, Claus Guth, Jakub Hrůša, Karita Mattila, Pavol Brešlík, the Pavel Haas Quartet, the Bamberger Symphoniker and others.
The theme of the program explores the turmoil that upended society in the early decades of the 20th Century and resulted in new forms of musical expression for opera and instrumental works.
This festival is a follow-up to the extraordinarily successful biennial celebration, Janáček Brno 2018, which was the first festival in the Czech Republic to receive the award for Best Festival at the prestigious International Opera Awards.
“National Theatre Brno and its festival have come to stand in the illustrious company of the very best artists and ensembles in the whole opera world,” Martin Glaser, Director of National Theatre Brno, said. “After only six editions of the festival this is an almost unbelievable success.”
The festival will open with Janáček´s opera, Destiny. According to NdB, Destiny is less frequently performed than many of his other works, but it was a significant step in the composer´s journey to find a new approach to modern opera. The production will be created specifically for the festival by the internationally renowned director Robert Carsen in cooperation with the ensemble of the Janáček Opera, National Theatre Brno, and with the musical direction of chief conductor Marko Ivanović.
Jenůfa, Janáček´s breakthrough opera, will also be performed by Brno’s opera ensemble in cooperation with the London Royal Opera House (Covent Garden), where the production by director Claus Guth will have its premiere in March 2020. Robert Kružík will be in charge of the Brno version. One of the main aims of the festival is to present various perspectives on Janáček´s work via its staging by both Czech and foreign ensembles.
“The first two decades of the 20th century constitute one of the most astounding periods in the history of music. During this time, established rules that had been generally accepted for centuries began to lose their force, and the thought and values of romanticism faded away. At the same time, something new arose, something that often radically rejected all that was old, or which reflected traditional values via novel means. It was a time when much passed away, yet much was born. It is the music of exactly this time, by such greats as Richard Strauss, Claude Debussy, Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schönberg, Igor Stravinsky and Béla Bartók, that will be presented within the festival programme in contrast with that of another iconic figure of this period – Leoš Janáček,“ said Jiří Zahrádka, member of the Artistic Committee of the Janáček Brno festival.
Advance festival ticket sales are ongoing. Click here for more information about the festival and to purchase tickets online.
Additionally, tickets can be purchased at the Customer Centre of National Theatre Brno at Dvořákova 11.
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