Anniversary of the Award of the Honorary Doctorate to Leoš Janáček

Male choruses by Leoš Janáček (selection)
Leoš Janáček: Spondeo ac polliceor!

In 1924 the Academic Senate of Masaryk University decided to award the first ever honorary doctorate to Leoš Janáček. The graduation ceremony took place in the auditorium of the Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University on 28 January 1925. It was certainly the composer’s greatest gift for his seventieth birthday, of which he was extremely proud, and for the rest of his life he always signed as Dr.Ph. Leoš Janáček. This important act will be commemorated in the authentic environment of the auditorium of the Faculty of Arts which, although it has changed somewhat since then, still bears a certain genius loci. Janáček delivered a solemn speech Spondeo ac polliceor! at the awarding of the doctorate. On the occasion of the upcoming 100th anniversary of the ceremony, Janáček’s speech will be delivered by composer Petr Kotík, who has lived in New York for many years and is an unmissable personality in the international context. Janáček’s male choirs will be performed by the Moravian Teachers Singing Association, for whom Janáček often composed.

Jiří Zahrádka