Filharmonie Brno will explore power, leadership and responsibility through music in its immersive educational project V orchestru (“In the Orchestra”), which returns on Friday, 13 February. The programme places audiences directly among the musicians, with the orchestra spread throughout the auditorium and on the stage, creating an unusually close and focused listening experience.
This year’s edition centres on influential figures from world history, including military commanders and political leaders whose decisions shaped modern society. Through a carefully curated musical programme, the concert reflects themes of authority, courage, failure and the consequences of power, while connecting classical music with history and civic reflection.
The concept is built around a sequence of musical works associated with specific historical personalities. The evening opens with George Frideric Handel’s Alexander’s Feast, inspired by the figure of Alexander the Great and his military achievements, but also by the idea of music as a force capable of shaping emotions and uniting cultures. From there, the programme moves to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 “Eroica”, originally dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte. The work reflects both heroic ideals and deep disappointment, mirroring Napoleon’s political trajectory as well as a revolutionary turning point in musical history.
The focus then shifts to the United States with Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, which draws on speeches by Abraham Lincoln and presents him as a symbol of democracy and civic responsibility. The atmosphere darkens with selected movements from Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphonies No. 9 and 10, which address the era of Joseph Stalin and evoke themes of totalitarianism, repression and the abuse of power.
The concert concludes with a symbolic return to Czech history. Fanfares from Bedřich Smetana’s opera Libuše reference the legendary beginnings of Czech statehood and highlight the role of myth, memory and cultural tradition in shaping national identity.
Conducted by Stanislav Vavřínek, the project will be presented six times during the week for upper primary and secondary school students, and twice for the public on Friday at 5 pm and 7 pm. Tickets are available through Filharmonie Brno’s box office and website.
