The Moravian Autumn (Moravský podzim) International Music Festival, which will take place for the 53rd time this year from 12-26 October, will commemorate the 100th anniversary of famous conductor Sir Charles Mackerras’ birth. At the opening concert, Mackerras’ daughter Catherine will present an award named after her father for artists under 40 who have made significant contributions to the interpretation of Czech music, especially Leoš Janáček.
“It is well known that Mackerras was not only one of the world’s greatest conductors, but also one of the greatest connoisseurs of Janáček’s music,” said Marie Kučerová, director of Filharmonie Brno, which organizes the festival. “He came to Brno many times to conduct or study his compositions, and even learned Czech for this purpose. He also conducted our orchestra several times.”
Janáček’s Sinfonietta, performed by the renowned BBC Concert Orchestra together with the Castle Guard Band, will open the festival. The orchestra will bring to Brno a program consisting of lighter compositions, so-called musical sparklers, which Mackerras focused on during his time as chief conductor of this ensemble.
“The orchestra will be led by its chief conductor Anna-Maria Helsing,” said festival dramaturge Vítězslav Mikeš. “In the spring, she conducted Filharmonie Brno at the Easter Festival and was greatly admired by the audience. We look forward to her return.”
Two orchestras once led by Mackerras, both among the world’s best, will perform at the festival: the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and London’s Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. The former will perform the festival’s overture on 23 September together with internationally renowned bagpiper Robert Jordan. This concert is already sold out.
The London Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment will then perform George Frideric Handel’s oratorio King Solomon. This exceptional work for soloists, choir, and orchestra will be performed at the Janáček Theater on 19 October.
“The Enlightenment Orchestra is known throughout the world for its scholarly interpretation of early music. Its conductor, John Butt, is an international star in this field, so it is sure to be an extraordinary evening,” noted Mikeš.
In addition to the orchestras where Mackerras worked, the festival will also feature composers close to him, such as Claudio Monteverdi. The festival’s closing concert will present Monteverdi’s best-known work, the composition ‘Marian Vespers’, performed by the French ensemble La Tempête.
“This sacred opera is a masterpiece in itself, but the ensemble’s artistic director, Simon-Pierre Bestion, has also interwoven French faux-bourdons from a 17th-century manuscript in Carpentras and Gregorian chants in a unique solo performance by a singer,” said Kučerová, adding that the atmosphere is enhanced by the use of stage and off-stage space, dance, light design, and other scenic effects.
The Last Pagan Rites, an oratorio that will be performed for the fourth time at Moravian Autumn, confirms its position as a program staple this year. “When we performed it for the first time in 2017, we were all completely captivated. We included it a second time unplanned when its author, Bronius Kutavičius, died in 2021, just a few days before the start of the festival,” said Mikeš. “The success with listeners and the enthusiasm of the Kantiléna children’s choir prompted us to repeat this work in 2023, again with a full church. This year, for the first time, we will try a different venue, the magical water towers on Žlutý kopec.” The concert is already sold out, and there is another repeat performance on the same evening.
The MKČ 150 project will present another giant of Lithuanian art, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, whose important anniversary is being commemorated around the world, with several compositions being commissioned for Moravian Autumn. Pianist Sára Medková and cellist Štěpán Filípek are writing compositions for each other and will present them in the Britten & Shostakovich program.
The Czech premiere of Jóhann Jóhannsson’s orchestral version of IBM 1401: A User’s Manual is also ready. This musical-dance work was inspired by the very first computer imported to Iceland in 1964 and its ability to reproduce simple monophonic melodies.
“The main idea is the concept of a computer as a personified device, uniquely conveyed through the close harmony of the expressive means of music and modern dance,” Mikeš explained. “The movement component will be provided by the well-known Icelandic representative of modern dance, Erna Ómarsdóttir, for whom the work was created; the musical part will be shared by Úlfur Eldjárn and the Brno chamber orchestra Ensemble Opera Diversa under the baton of Gabriela Tardonová.”
This year’s festival also includes programs for children, screenings, and the New World of Moravian Autumn, a project prepared by students of the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts.The complete festival program can be found on the event’s official website.
