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38th International Music Festival Janacek May: comebacks and debuts, classical music and jazz

22 February 2013

The largest classical music festival in the Moravian-Silesian Region will take place for the 38th time in 2013. The Janacek May 2013 (20 May to 11 June) builds upon successful previous years and again offers its audience the symphonic and chamber concerts, as well as the jazz, opera and ballet performances. Not only cities of Ostrava and Český Těšín will host the festival, but this time also Opava, Kravaře, Ludgeřovice and Příbor. Fanfares of Janáček's Sinfonietta at the opening concert will sound the Gong multifunctional auditorium – a former and recently uniquely reconstructed gasholder in Dolní Vitkovice. This industrial multifunctional auditorium can hold up to 1,500 visitors. The festival audience will appreciate the sounds of the instrument most treasured in the northern Moravia – the organ in St. Nicholas‘ cathedral in Ludgeřovice and also the perfect acoustics of the neo-Gothic St. Bartholomew Church in Kravaře. Moreover, newly restored spaces in the former Piarist monastery in Příbor can be admired while listening to baroque music. This year the Janacek May festival can boast extraordinary projects, first nights and several composers’ anniversaries. Among the most significant events will no doubt be – firstly the Oratorio Dream of Gerontius by the English author Edward Elgar (25 May, Gong auditorium), secondly, a complete performance of the sonatas of the Czech baroque master Jan Dismas Zelenka (10 June, Piarist monastery Příbor), and finally – the debut Czech performance of the Aram Khachaturian’s 3rd Symphony (20 May, Gong) composed for unusual number of trumpets. “The famous conductor Leopold Stokowski had 24 trumpets at the first night in New York City,” noted Jaromir Javůrek, the director of Janáček May. “There will be 30 of them in Ostrava.” The festival annually hosts an outstanding number of top artists. This year there will be famous soloist Tabea Zimmermann (viola), Garrick Ohlsson (piano), Augustine Dumaye (violin), Sayaka Shoji (violin), Lars Vogt (piano), Miklós Perényiho (viloncello) and other well-known musicians. “The festival highlights will certainly be the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra of Ostrava, the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra and other chamber and symphonic orchestras as well. The festival will present the work of David Popper, Witold Lutoslawsky, Richard Wagner,” recommends Jaromir Javůrek. The 60th anniversary of the Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava will be commemorated with honour. The standard is set high. The festival programme, successful dramaturgy and world-famous names confirm the reputation of the Janacek May ay Festival as the musical gem of the North Moravia.