STYLE

The Leoš Janáček

International

Music Festival

through

the Eyes of

a Jaromír Javůrek

We asked the director of

the Leoš Janáček Music

Festival, Mr. Jaromír Javůrek,

about his current work life

and what is in store for

Czechia’s Year of Music.

The 20th Saint Wenceslas Music festival

ends on the 28th of September 2023.

A couple days ago another successful

Ostrava Days- Modern Music Festival

came to a close. Currently. I am in the

middle of preparing for the Janáček Music

Festival 2024.

The year 2024 marks not only the “Year

Of Czech Music”, but also the 170th

anniversary of the birth of the genius

Hukvaldy native and world renowned

composer Leoš Janáček. Czech music,

however, consists of much more than

solely Smetana, Dvořák, Janáček or

Martinů. We have a large number of great

authors that are often forgotten, and

this is what our festival aims for- to shine

the spotlight on these overlooked talents

and to offer a diverse representation

of amazing Czech artists. While I can’t

reveal too much at this moment, unlike

the Cimrmanites, I can make a couple of

implications.

The pre-Smetana age of the 18th century

will be represented through works by

Franz Xaver Richter, Josef Mysliveček

and Jan Václav Hugo Voříšek and will

accompany performances of pieces

by their famous peers, W. A. Mozart,

L. Van Beethoven and Franz Schubert.

B. Smetana, A. Dvořák and other authors

of romanticism will be given their own

block at the festival. If all goes as planned,

Hukvaldy will come to life with folklore

through one of Leoš Janáček’s operas as

well as a one-of-a-kind ballet performance

featuring top notch international dancers.

We have noticed that visitors have

become a lot more open to new locations

for festival concerts.

We plan to follow this trend by looking

for less traditional venues in addition to

regular ones. This might include industrial

settings, or the Hukvaldy castle, where

we would love to return to. Some of

the performances we plan to feature

would greatly benefit from stepping

outside of classical concert halls and

theaters for the venues.

This year, the Leoš Janáček Music Festival

will also feature a robust supplemental

program. This will include Leoš creative

workshops, Master interpretation courses,

film viewings, exhibitions, interesting

lectures and much more.

Can you give us something specific to

look forward to?

Visitors that have been going to the music

festival for a couple years now will know

that one of the long term goals of our

festival program is to create events where

spoken word is linked with music. As

Jiří Antonín Benda is one of the masters

of melodrama (in this regard, he even

influenced W. A. Mozart), we decided that

for the “Year of Czech Music”, we should

feature one of his pieces by the name

of Medea, interpreted and led by the

festival’s president, conductor Tomáš

Netopil. Zuzana Stivínová will make her

debut at our festival in the main role of

this play alongside a member of the drama

troupe, ND Radúz Mácha jr.

Lastly, I would like to add one more piece

of information. This year, we will once

again be offering three different concerts

in our “Christmas pre-sale” so you will

be able to give these concert tickets as

Christmas presents. The standard pre-sale

will begin on the 4th of February 2024.

www.positiv.cz ǀ 107