Český Krumlov Festival of Chamber Music 2025

The festival's constant dramaturgical line is the emphasis on ties to the past of Český Krumlov's musical life (and at the same time an opportunity to search for a deeper cultural identity of this town). This line is represented this year by the traditional concert of the Schwarzenberg Guard Jazzband, as well as the French fairy-tale opera Zémire et Azor from 1771, which can also be found in the Schwarzenberg music collection.

The fairy-tale theme of this opera is the basis for another dramaturgical element, which is the emphasis on the connection between music and fairy tales, stories and poetry. In cooperation with the Zdeněk Fibich Society, we have included a cross-section of Czech concert melodramas of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries in the program. Dita Hořínková and Petr Stach will perform as reciters, and Filip Martinka will play the piano. An unconventional content of this year's nocturne will be storytelling, i.e. storytelling accompanied by music. The role of the narrator will be taken by Justin Svoboda, the musical component on various instruments will be provided by Jan Chromeček. With the idea of a children's audience, we include the Piccoli music workshop, under the auspices of the Collegium Marianum ensemble. In the environment of the Mirror Hall of the Krumlov Castle, children will be able to become participants in the coronation ceremony and, above all, to engage in playful musical activities.

The third programme accent of this year's edition is the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The concert of cellist Jiří Hošek and his daughter Dominika will therefore belong to the works of Jewish composers. An important morale boost (or a silent expression of resistance) during the war years was swing music, which will be played by the young Prague swing big band The Mole's Wing Orchestra as part of a jazz concert. At the end of the festival, the Academy of Chamber Music concert will feature compositions by Josef Suk and Bohuslav Martinů, as well as Richard Strauss's Metamorphoses, influenced by the exacerbated post-war atmosphere. The soloists of this evening will be the cellist Tomáš Jamník and the violinist Jan Fišer.