Filharmonie Brno Performs an All-Czech Program With Dvořák, Janáček, and Martinů

The pastoral landscape and folklore of Eastern Europe and America are brought to life through the music of three of the greatest Czech composers - Dvořák, Janáček, and Martinů - performed by the Czech Republic's own Filharmonie Brno under the baton of Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Dennis Russell Davies.

Widely considered to be one of the most innovative and adventurous conductors/programmers in the classical music world, Maestro Davies leads the famed Czech symphony orchestra in a program that includes:

• Martinů: Thunderbolt P-47, H. 309
• Janáček: Taras Bulba
• Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95, B. 178 "New World Symphony"

About Dennis Russell Davies and the Filharmonie Brno

For more than a half-century, renowned American conductor Dennis Russell Davies has conducted many of the world's finest orchestras and opera companies and is widely considered one of the most innovative and adventurous conductors in the classical music world.

In 2018, Maestro Davis became the Artistic Director & Chief Conductor of the Filharmonie Brno, an orchestra with roots that go back to the 1870's when then-young composer Leoš Janáček endeavored to establish a Czech symphony orchestra in Brno (the traditional capital of Moravia), now the second largest city in the Czech Republic after Prague.

The present orchestra was created in 1956 and has been among the leading Czech orchestras in both size and importance, where the programming of works by Janáček has always been at the core of the orchestra's repertory. Appropriately, Maestro Davies' stimulating concert at The Soraya will feature an outstanding all-Czech program of works by three of the greatest Czech composers: Dvořák, Janáček, and Martinů.

This concert also marks the first time Dvořák's astonishing "New World Symphony will be performed in The Soraya's Great Hall.

About Filharmonie Brno

Since its earliest days, Filharmonie Brno has established a profile as a Janáčkian orchestra, thus making a substantial contribution to the cultural life of Brno - where Leoš Janáček composed nearly his entire oeuvre - and becoming an enthusiastic champion of his music. Since its foundation in 1956, the orchestra has regularly performed Janáček's works in concerts at home and abroad; it has also recorded, multiple times, his complete symphonic works and cantatas.

In its home city, the orchestra offers a rich and trailblazing concert season. Major symphony concerts take place at the Janáček Theatre; the chamber repertoire is performed at the Neo-renaissance hall of the Besední dům, which serves as the orchestra's headquarters. The Filharmonie also holds the Špilberk International Music Festival every summer, performing in the historical courtyard of Brno's Špilberk Castle, in the city's churches, and elsewhere.

In its homeland, Filharmonie Brno is a regular participant at major festivals, including Prague Spring, Moravian Autumn, Smetana's Litomyšl, and the Leoš Janáček International Music Festival. The orchestra is a frequent guest at prestigious venues abroad.

Filharmonie Brno has an illustrious history of music-making. Its beginnings date back to the 1870s when its first predecessor an amateur Czech Symphony Orchestra was established under the auspices of Leoš Janáček and housed in the purpose-built Besední dům, the present orchestra's magnificent home. Formed in 1956 after the merger of the Radio Orchestra and the Brno Region Symphony Orchestra, Filharmonie Brno has been regarded as one of the best orchestras in this country.