The Brno Philharmonic is entering its 71st season with the subtitle All Roads Lead to Brno. Director Marie Kučerová talks about the new concert hall, the programme, Brno’s musical legacy, and the festivals that expand the audience for classical music throughout the year.
How will the new concert hall change the orchestra’s work, its programming, and its ability to invite leading figures from the international music scene to Brno?
Unlike other Czech cities, Brno still does not have a concert hall where a large orchestra can perform. We are just concluding our 70th season, and throughout the orchestra’s existence we have worked in makeshift conditions: rehearsing in the small Besední dům and moving elsewhere for every concert. I admire my colleagues for delivering performances that have earned us invitations all over the world despite these conditions. Standard rehearsal and concert conditions in a high-quality environment will further raise the orchestra’s level. The musicians will have enough space and, above all, will be able to hear one another perfectly, which will make the rehearsal process more efficient. In the new hall, we will also be able to present programmes that we can perform only to a limited extent today – Janáček’s masterpieces with organ, great Romantic symphonies, and premieres by major international composers. It will also give us much greater freedom when negotiating with agencies and inviting major soloists and conductors, who are naturally attracted to a new, outstanding hall.
The 71st season bears the subtitle All Roads Lead to Brno. How do you build a programme that presents Brno as a musical address with its own character and international appeal?
It is the result of the systematic work of dramaturge Vítek Mikeš, the input of chief conductor Dennis Russell Davies, and cooperation with the orchestra’s artistic council. Brno has a very strong musical footprint in the world, and it is not only Janáček. Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Jan Novák, Vítězslava Kaprálová, and Pavel Haas also resonate strongly. The 71st season also recalls great figures who passed through Brno during its flourishing periods in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries – Richard Strauss, Mahler, Mozart, Brahms, and Prokofiev. This is a strong line that shapes the identity of both the orchestra and the city, while attractive soloists, conductors, and well-known works naturally remain part of the programme.
What limits the Brno Philharmonic most in its current premises, and how are you managing the period before the new hall opens?
The orchestra is doing the maximum possible; we use the Besední dům every day. Sometimes we even divide the orchestra and prepare and perform two projects at the same time. Recently, for example, this meant an Indian tour alongside Mozart’s Children, a large educational concert at the Janáček Theatre featuring around 150 young musicians and singers from the South Moravian Region and the Vysočina Region. We will continue working in this mode until the new hall opens, but of course we can hardly wait.
What role do festivals, such as Moravian Autumn, play in broadening audiences and strengthening Brno’s cultural brand beyond the main season?
In addition to its regular season, the Brno Philharmonic organises perhaps more festivals than any other orchestra in the world; at least I have not yet come across another one that is so active. Alongside the talent festival Mozart’s Children, we run four other festivals during the year. The largest of them is the biennial Moravian Autumn, with foreign orchestras, soloists, conductors, premieres, and site-specific projects across the city. The annual Easter Festival of Sacred Music in Brno’s churches has a strong tradition, as does the summer open-air Špilberk Festival in the castle courtyard and the avant-garde Exposition of New Music. The season and each festival appeal to a slightly different audience, creating a wonderful synergy. I must also mention our successful educational programme, which reached around 35,000 children and their parents last year.
