JANÁČEK BRNO FESTIVAL
1 – 24 NOVEMBER 2024
Follow in Janáček's footsteps with a mobile phone
Set out in the footsteps of Leoš Janáček with the Loxper mobile app and from October 18 until 3 November you can take part in a competition. For the completed route, you will receive a gift from the limited Janáček birthday edition, and in addition, you can win tickets to the Janáček Brno 2024 festival! The app is also in English and German.
How to take part: Download the Loxper app onto your mobile. In the walks section, you can choose from two Janáček trails (short or long). Follow the trail and after successfully completing it, a password will appear in the app, based on which you can collect a prize at the Information Center Under the Crocodile. If you send the password to soutez@loxper.com by November 3rd, you also have a chance to win 2 tickets to the Janáček Brno 2024 festival.
18 October – 3 November 2024
Visit the Cunning Little Vixen at the Löw-Beer Villa exhibition
As part of the Year of Czech Music, the opera The Cunning Little Vixen is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its world premiere held in Brno on 6 November 1924. Janáček chose to set to music the story of a crafty vixen, which was written by the journalist and novelist Rudolf Těsnohlídek to illustrations by Stanislav Lolek, and had originally been serialized in the Lidové noviny newspaper. Later, The Cunning Little Vixen was published several times as a novel. In 2020, The Cunning Little Vixen was brought out by Host publishers with illustrations by Vendula Chalánková, and it is these original illustrations which you'll be able to see during the festival at the Löw-Beer Villa exhibition.
Opening on Tuesday 29 October 2024 at 5pm, an excerpt from The Cunning Little Vixen will sing Tereza Merklová Kyzlinková and the Brno Children's Choir
30 October – 24 November 2024
Vila Löw-Beer, Drobného 22, Brno 602 00
Follow in Janáček's footsteps in Brno from the comfort of a minibus
The route includes places where Janáček lived, composed, conducted, taught, attended the premieres of his compositions, strolled around and met his friends. You will also visit his home on Smetanova ulice, where Janáček lived for the last quarter of his life and composed all of his greatest works. An audioguide with commentary in English or German will be available for visitors from abroad.
Sunday 3 November at 2 p.m.
Thursday 14 November at 2 p.m.
See the exhibition Life at the Janáčeks'
This exhibition of original illustrations by Vendula Chalánková to accompany the books Marie's Cookbook and Marie's Memoirs was inspired by the legacy of Maria Stejskalová, the Janáček family's long-serving housekeeper. Marie's Cookbook contains recipes she used at the Janáčeks', with comments on events in the Janáček household. Marie's Memoirs are an idiosyncratic look at Janáček's life, his loved ones, and the cultural life in Brno. The illustrations, created from paper collage, present scenes and events from the life of Janáček and his family.
Opening on 5 November 2024 at 5pm, with a performance by Lenka Cafourková Ďuricová (vocal) and Katarína Duchoňová (piano)
6 November 2024 – 6 January 2025 during the cafe's opening hours
Café ERA, Zemědělská 30, Brno 613 00
Commemorate Janáček's anniversaries
"It was dignified and solemn beyond words, at some moments it was like being in church." Leoš Janáček's graduation ceremony fell on the anniversary of the founding of Masaryk University on 28 January 1925 in the auditorium of the Faculty of Arts and it was the first ever doctor honoris causa in the history of MU. You can visit the exhibition "I came here as Janaček, I am returning as a doctor" in the KaFFe Reading Room and Café at the Faculty of Arts, MU and see the reprints of illustrations with motifs of portraits of Janáček and his loved ones designed by Vendula Chalánková. These were made from paper collages based on photographs kept in the Leoš Janáček Archive. The exhibition also highlights the 100th anniversary of the first honorary doctorate to be awarded from Masaryk University to Leoš Janáček, the 170th anniversary of the composer's birth, and the 100th anniversary of the world premiere of Janáček's opera The Cunning Little Vixen.
Opening on Tuesday 12 November 2024 at 5pm, with a performance of the male choir Láska opravdivá
13 November 2024 – 31 January 2025 during opening hours of the reading room/café
Reading room/café kaFFe, Arna Nováka 1, Brno, 602 00
Explore the Augustinian Monastery and places connected with Janáček
The history of the Augustinian Monastery in Staré Brno is linked to the names of two world-famous people – Mendel and Janáček. When Janáček came to Brno as an eleven-year-old boy in 1865, he found himself in a foundation for musically talented boys in the Augustinian Monastery of St Thomas in Staré Brno. He became one of the "bluebirds", as the Staré Brno pupils were known due to their blue uniforms. He later conducted music in the gallery of the monastery church, and in 1884 also conducted the funeral requiem for the monastery abbot and prominent naturalist, Gregor Johann Mendel. During the tour we will look at places linked to Janáček, including the foundation's classroom and the gallery of the basilica of The Assumption of the Virgin Mary. And we'll also listen to the bluebirds singing!
Saturday 16 November 2024 at 11am
Thursday 21 November 2024 at 4pm
Travel by coach in search of Janáček's Hukvaldy
A one-day coach tour to Hukvaldy, the birthplace of Leoš Janáček (approx. 150 km from Brno). Participants will visit the Leoš Janáček Memorial, the former Hukvaldy school in which Janáček was born, the son of a schoolmaster, in 1854. There will also be a walk to a nature reserve followed by a chance to buy Hukvaldy's famous "lopaťák" cakes from the local bakery. On the return journey to Brno there will also be a stop in the nearby town of Příbor, with a tour of the birthplace of the famous father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freund.
Tuesday 19 November at 8.a.m.
In cooperation with the Leoš Janáček Foundation.
Try the recipes of the Janáčeks' housekeeper
One not to miss – throughout the Janáček Brno festival, some of Brno's gatronomic establishments awarded in the Gourmet Brno 2023 will be offering the Maestro's favourite delicacies based on the recipes of his housekeeper, Marie Stejskalová, published in Marie's Cookbook.
1 – 24 November 2024
Listen to Janáček in the streets of Brno day and night
During the festival there will be sixteen places in Brno where you can meet Leoš Janáček with his dog Čipera, and after scanning the QR code on the Maestro's jacket, you can listen to a musical extract. Enjoy a stroll with your mobile phone while listening to music including the wedding scene from the opera The Cunning Little Vixen, the fanfare from Sinfonietta or the overture to the opera The Makropulos Affair.
1 – 24 November 2024
Take a journey to Janáček's beloved Luhačovice
In cooperation with Brno Day Trips, we are offering the opportunity to order individual trips to Janáček's favourite spa at Luhačovice.
Order here.
From the history of the festival Janáček Brno:
In 2004, as part of the commemorations of the 150th anniversary of Janáček's birth, the Janáček Festival Brno was established, where all of the composer's opera works were performed. This led to the idea of organizing a regular biennial festival, which has been receiving great acclaim since its launch in 2008. The main dramaturgical concept centres on performances of Janáček's operas by international as well as Czech opera companies, accompanied by a diverse series of concerts. Productions by world-renowned directors have been performed at the festival (e.g. Robert Carsen, Robert Wilson, Harry Kupfer, Peter Konwitschny, David Pountney and David Radok), and many leading conductors have appeared here, including Sir Charles Mackerras, Tomáš Hanus and Jiří Bělohlávek.
The Janáček Brno festival was the winner of the International Opera Awards in 2018.
The festival organizer is National Theatre Brno.
Remember the successful Janáček Brno 2022 in the video*report, photo gallery and media reports!