On the Trail of Antonín Dvořák is the traditional prelude to our festival, and this year it will take us to Brno. Between 1878 and 1897, the composer made multiple visits to the Moravian metropolis. It was Leoš Janáček who played a pivotal role in shaping Dvořák’s connection with the city. The two composers first met during Janáček’s studies at the Prague Organ School and their friendship endured until Dvořák’s death. Janáček greatly admired the older master, and with unwavering persistence and dedication, introduced his instrumental and vocal works to the Brno audience, cultivating a genuine devotion for Dvořák in his hometown. Janáček even conducted the world premiere of The Wild Dove symphonic poem in Brno. At a time of heated national disputes, Dvořák’s visits to Brno were viewed by the local Czech minority not only as remarkable musical events, but also as expressions of patriotism, reflecting the maturity of Czech culture. Naturally, those visits where the composer himself performed his works elicited the most enthusiastic response. Engaging in dual roles as conductor and pianist, Dvořák presented his symphonies and symphonic poems, and he also actively participated in the interpretation of his own chamber pieces, including the famed Dumky piano trio.

The roots of the Brno Philharmonic go back to the 1870s, when the young Leoš Janáček was advocating the creation of a Czech symphony orchestra in the city. Incidentally, the music of that great 20th-century composer is the most important item in the repertoire of the orchestra, which is still regarded to this day as the authentic interpreter of his music.

The present-day Brno Philharmonic was founded in 1956 by the merger of a radio orchestra and a regional orchestra, and since then it has been a top Czech orchestra in terms of its size and importance. On tour, it has given nearly a thousand concerts in Europe, the USA, Latin America, the Far East, and the Near East. The orchestra is a regular guest at foreign and domestic festivals, where it often joins artistic forces with the Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno.

The orchestra makes recordings regularly for Czech Radio and Czech Television. Besides making recordings on various labels (Supraphon, Sony Music, IMG Records, BMG, Channel 4), in 2020 the Brno Philharmonic established its own recording label Filharmonie Brno. The orchestra’s activity of making custom recordings for global clientele has been growing dynamically through the agency Czech Orchestra Recordings.

Such prominent Czech and foreign conductors as Břetislav Bakala, František Jílek, Petr Altrichter, Jiří Bělohlávek, Sir Charles Mackerras, Jakub Hrůša, and Tomáš Netopil have been associated with the orchestra’s history. Since the 2018/2019 season, the Brno Philharmonic’s chief conductor and artistic director has been Dennis Russell Davies.

Since 2000, the Brno Philharmonic has been presenting a summer open-air festival at Brno’s Špilberk Castle, and in 2012 it became the presenter of the renowned festivals Moravian Autumn, the Easter Festival of Sacred Music, and the Exposition of New Music. It organises the internationally acclaimed children’s choir Kantiléna, since 2010 it has been taking part in Mozart’s Children, a festival of young musicians, and in 2014 it established its own Orchestral Academy.

Today, the Brno Philharmonic is not only a strong player in the field of symphonic music at home and abroad, but also a leading organiser of the musical season in the second-largest Czech city, an active festival presenter, and a creative leader in the field of orchestral dramaturgy. The orchestra’s home is the Neo-Renaissance Besední dům, “Brno’s Musikverein”, designed by Theophil von Hansen in 1873, and it is looking forward to a new, modern concert hall designed by the team of architects Tomasz Konior and Petr Hrůša and the acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota.

Robert Kružík is among the youngest generation of Czech conductors. He currently serves as chief conductor of the Zlín Philharmonic (since the 2021/2022 season), permanent conductor of the Janáček Opera at the National Theatre Brno (since 2015/2016), and permanent guest conductor of the Brno Philharmonic (since 2018/2019). Starting in the 2025/2026 season, he will become the new chief conductor of the Janáček Opera in Brno. He has also held the position of conductor at the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava. Kružík is a laureate of the Jiří Bělohlávek Award, which is granted to outstanding Czech artists under the age of thirty who have achieved exceptional success in their field and contribute to the promotion of Czech music both at home and abroad.

In March 2023, he made his debut with the Czech Philharmonic at Prague’s Rudolfinum. He first conducted the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Prague Spring Festival in 2020. Kružík has collaborated with renowned soloists, including violinists Esther Yoo, Josef Špaček, Jan Mráček, and Jiří Vodička, cellists Raphael Wallfisch and Andrei Ionițǎ, as well as Grammy Award winner Sumi Jo, Kateřina Kněžíková, Sung Kiu Park, and the phenomenal trumpeter Reinhold Friedrich, among others. As a conductor, he has appeared at major domestic and international festivals, including Prague Spring, Smetana’s Litomyšl, the St. Wenceslas Music Festival, the Leoš Janáček International Music Festival, and the Festiwal Eufonie in Warsaw.

He collaborates with numerous symphony orchestras, including the MDR-Sinfonieorchester, Czech Philharmonic, Sinfonia Varsovia, Brno Philharmonic, Prague Philharmonia, Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic, Košice State Philharmonic, Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc, Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice, and the South Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic.

At the National Theatre Brno, he has conducted productions including Rossini’s Le comte Ory, Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades and Eugene Onegin, Smetana’s Libuše—performed for the 100th anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia—Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, and Verdi’s Otello. His extensive opera repertoire includes works by Mozart, Smetana, Dvořák, Martinů, Janáček, Donizetti, Rossini, Tchaikovsky, Bizet, Verdi, Puccini, and others.

A native of Brno, he began his musical journey as a cellist. He graduated from the Brno Conservatory, where he studied both cello (under Miroslav Zicha) and conducting (under Stanislav Kummer). He achieved success in several cello competitions, including Prague Spring, the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation Competition, and the Leoš Janáček International Competition in Brno. He also completed a study program at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste in Switzerland. He further honed his skills in conducting masterclasses with Norbert Baxa, Johannes Schlaefli, and David Zinman.

source: Arte Visio

The Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno choir represents the absolute pinnacle of choral artistry not only domestically, but also in a worldwide context. The conductors, orchestras, and soloists the orchestra has collaborated with speak of the choir in superlatives. Music critics primarily acclaim the compactness of sound and the wide range of expressive resources at their disposal. The Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno (founded in 1990) appears at all prestigious European festivals and at important concerts, and the ensemble is always able to thrill audiences with its extraordinary musical feeling.

The man behind the choir’s successes is its founder, choirmaster and director Petr Fiala (1943). A graduate of the Brno Conservatoire and of the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno (piano, composition, conducting), he has written 200 compositions. He has been active as a choirmaster and conductor for nearly 60 years.

The second choirmaster of the Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno is Joel Hána.

The choir focuses on performing the oratorio, cantata, and opera repertoire. Thanks to its excellence, the choir gives more than 90 concerts each year at home and abroad, collaborating with the world’s top orchestras and conductors.

The choir has an extensive discography and has won numerous awards. In 2007 it received two important European prizes – Echo Klassik for Ensemble of the Year 2007 (performances of Bruckner’s motets) and Recording of the Year 2007 for Liszt’s oratorio Christus. The choir has also won prizes on other continents. In September 2011, the Japanese music criticism journal Geijutsu Disc Review awarded the choir the prestigious Tokusen Award for their live recording of Dvořák’s Requiem. The Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno won a prestigious 2019 Classic Prague Award in the Vocal Performance category.

The activity of the Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno is supported financially by the South Moravia Region, the City of Brno, and the Czech Ministry of Culture. The General Partner of the Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno is the company TESCAN ORSAY HOLDING, a.s.

JOEL HÁNA is a graduate of the Brno Conservatory and the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts. As a conductor he has collaborated with leading Czech orchestras and cultural institutions (PKF – Prague Philharmonia, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic, Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc, National Theatre Brno, National Moravian-Silesian Theatre, etc.). He is the chief conductor of the Police Symphony Orchestra. As a musician, he plays organ and piano and forms a duo with his wife, flutist and singer Hana Hána. Together, they perform concerts both in the Czech Republic and abroad. His other professional activities include directing audiovisual recordings, live broadcasts of concerts and operas. He records mainly for the Czech Philharmonic, Czech Television, but also in Slovakia and internationally. Since 2023, he has been the second choirmaster of the Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno.

Pavlína Švestková built her singing foundations with Anna Mikšátková, under whose guidance she won many singing competitions. In 2006, she won the Bohuslav Martinů National Competition in Prague. In the same year, she graduated from the Pedagogical Lyceum in Brno with a specialisation in musical arts. She graduated from the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno under the guidance of Associate Professor Jaroslava Janská. She also studied singing with Professor Tatiana Teslia. In 2012, she was a visiting student at The University of Malta in a singing class taught by Professor Claire Massi and Dr. John Galea.

Among her notable achievements is her performing in St. John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta, under the baton of Professor Dr. Dion Buhagiar. In 2011, she made her debut as a soloist of the Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno at the Prague Proms International Festival, performing in a concert featuring film music by composer Ennio Morricone, who conducted the concert personally. She has also performed under the baton of various world-renowned conductors such as Steven Sloane, John Axelrod, Andreas Sebastian Weiser, Leoš Svárovský, Petr Altrichter, and others.

She has collaborated with many prominent Czech and foreign ensembles, such as the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Barocco sempre giovane, Bochumer symphoniker, and others. Pavlína Švestková enjoys performing baroque, classical, and sacred music.

After completing his studies at the Prague Conservatoire with Zdeněk Jankovský, he continued private instruction with Václav Zítek. During his studies, he became a member of the vocal group Dobrý večer kvintet. His concert activity has been extensive, particularly in projects featuring a Baroque and classical repertoire, with performances on concert stages in Japan, Austria, Norway, Italy (including renditions of Dvořák’s Stabat Mater in Rome and Pisa), Germany, France, and Spain. He has collaborated with renowned conductors such as J. Bělohlávek, Ch. Mackerras, O. Dohnányi, S. Baud, G. Albrecht, and T. Netopil, among others.

Since 1993, he has been a soloist at the National Theatre Opera in Prague, where he has brought to life many roles in both a domestic and international repertoire, including Mozart’s Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Tito (La clemenza di Tito), Tamino (The Magic Flute), Pedrillo (The Abduction from the Seraglio), and Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Count Almaviva (Rossini: The Barber of Seville), Dancairo (Bizet: Carmen), Verdi’s Fenton (Falstaff), Alfredo (La traviata) and Macduff (Macbeth), Beppe (Leoncavallo: Pagliacci), Zinoviy Borisovich (Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District), Smetana’s Vašek and Jeník (The Bartered Bride), Vítek (Dalibor), Šťáhlav (Libuše), Skřivánek and Vít (The Secret) and Michálek (The Devil‘s Wall), Dvořák’s Jiří and Benda (The Jacobin) and Jirka (The Devil and Kate), Janáček’s Laca (Jenůfa), Kudrjáš and Tichon (Káťa Kabanová), Schoolmaster and Mosquito (The Cunning Little Vixen), and Brouček (The Excursions of Mr. Brouček), Martinů’s Yannakos and Panait (The Greek Passion) and Maškaron (The Plays of Mary), Nemorino (Donizetti: The Elixir of Love), Spirit of the Mask (Britten: Gloriana), and others. He has sung in recordings of Ryba’s Czech Christmas Mass (Deutsche Grammophon), Zelenka’s coronation opera Sub olea pacis et palma virtutis, which won the Cannes Classical Awards in 2002, Janáček’s opera Šárka, and Dvořák’s opera The Stubborn Lovers (the latter three were released by Supraphon).

Jaroslav has performed Janáček’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared at the Teatro Real in Madrid, the National Theatre, the Moravian Autumn and the Janáček’s Hukvaldy festivals as part of the Czech Philharmonic concert season and, in 1998–2001, at regular performances of this cycle at the National Theatre in Prague. In 2016, he portrayed Rechtor in The Cunning Little Vixen in Jan Latham-Koenig and Robert Carsen’s production at the Teatro Reggio in Turin, as well as Števa Buryja in concert performances of Jenůfa in Prague and London with Jiří Bělohlávek and the Czech Philharmonic. In 2022, he performed as Tichon (Káťa Kabanová) in a production directed by Jakub Hrůša and Barrie Kosky at the Salzburg Festival. He has also collaborated with Czech Television (e.g. the production of B. Martinů’s opera The Voice of the Forest). Jaroslav won the Thalia Award in both 2015 and 2023.

Baritone Roman Hoza studied in Brno and Vienna. He is a graduate of the prestigious Young Singers Project at the Salzburg Festival and completed opera studies at the Opéra National de Lyon and Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf.

He made his debut at the National Theatre in Prague in 2015 as Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro and has since become a regular guest there (Don Giovanni, Dandini, Mamma Agata, Harlequin). Since September 2016, he has been a member of the soloist ensemble at the National Theatre Brno, where he has performed numerous key baritone roles, including Don Giovanni, Guglielmo, Rossini’s Figaro, Belcore, Escamillo, Marcello, and Danilo.

In the 2019/20 season, Roman Hoza returned to Deutsche Oper am Rhein, initially as a guest (Dandini in Rossini’s La Cenerentola) and a year later as a permanent ensemble member. On this stage, he has appeared—and continues to perform—as Papageno, the Count in Le nozze di Figaro, Taddeo, and Belcore. He makes his debut there in the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni in spring 2025.

Roman Hoza is also a sought-after concert soloist. His repertoire regularly includes Carmina Burana, Dvořák’s Te Deum, and Haydn’s The Creation and The Seasons. In October 2023, he performed in Dvořák’s The Spectre’s Bride under the baton of Jakub Hrůša with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Orchestra in Rome. His extensive collaboration with Václav Luks and Collegium 1704, as well as other baroque ensembles (Ensemble Inégal, Musica Florea, Czech Ensemble Baroque), has afforded him numerous solo appearances in Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St John Passion (as Jesus), and other works.

Art song holds a special place in Roman’s vocal career. He is a laureate in the song category of the Antonín Dvořák International Singing Competition in Karlovy Vary.

He performed Schumann’s Dichterliebe with pianist Ahmad Hedar at the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum and sang Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer with the Brno Philharmonic under Robert Kružík in 2022. In summer 2023, his interpretations of French songs (Ravel, Ibert, Poulenc) were heard in Düsseldorf.

Roman Hoza is a regular guest at opera houses, philharmonic orchestras, and festivals in the Czech Republic and abroad. He has collaborated with conductors such as Jakub Hrůša, Axel Kober, Marc Piollet, David Crescenzi, Daniele Rustioni, Tomáš Netopil, and Vassily Sinaisky and has appeared in productions directed by David Radok, Andriy Zholdak, Tatjana Gürbaca, Michael Hampe, Jiří Heřman, and many others.

source: Agentura Camerata

Miriam Zuziaková comes from a musical family. She began devoting herself to playing the piano at age five. At the Brno Conservatoire, she studied piano in the studio of Hana Pelikánová, and after graduating she continued her studies at Brno’s Janáček Academy of Performing Arts under Prof. Inessa Janíčková. Since 1990, she has been employed by the Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno as a répétiteur, singer, and pianist. Since 1993, she has also been teaching at the Brno Conservatoire.

Kento Satsuma (*2002) began playing the piano at the age of three and the violin at eight. From 2017 to 2020, he studied conducting, piano, and violin at the Kyoto Horikawa Conservatory, where he had his first significant opportunities, conducting the Kyoto Civic Philharmonic and the Kyoto Chamber Orchestra. As a pianist, he became a laureate of the Japan Classical Music Competition and the Takarazuka Vega Piano Competition, and performed at the Kobe Festival.

Since 2020, he has been studying piano at JAMU under Prof. Jan Jiraský and conducting under Prof. Rostislav Hališka and Assoc. Prof. Jakub Klecker. In 2022, he conducted the Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc, performing works by Mozart, Schumann, Janáček, and Kubín. That same year, he showcased his dual expertise by performing Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto in G Minor as both pianist and conductor. His Prague performance of Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto, which he conducted from the piano with the Prague Chamber Philharmonic, was met with enthusiastic acclaim. He also won third prize at the three-round International Leoš Janáček Piano Competition.

In 2023, he performed Dvořák’s Piano Quintet No. 2 with the Stamic Quartet and participated in the Young Prague International Music Festival, where he appeared as both a pianist and conductor, leading the North Bohemian Philharmonic in Dvořák Hall at the Rudolfinum.

In 2024, he performed in the Young Blood cycle of the Brno Philharmonic, and his piano recital featuring rarely performed works by Smetana, presented as part of Smetanománie in Pilsen, received great acclaim. He is currently preparing for piano performances with the Ostrava and Olomouc Philharmonic Orchestras and is engaged in conducting Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro as an assistant to Václav Luks.

source: Jan Jiraský

Besední dům is one of the most important buildings in Brno’s historic center. This cultural shrine was, among other things, the workplace of an extraordinary composer and conductor Leoš Janáček. Janáček´s name draws to Brno his music admirers from around the world.