Janáček Brno Festival

In 2004 the Janáček Brno Festival took place, and all of Leoš Janáček’s operas were performed. This event gave birth to the idea of a regular biennial, which has been held with great success since 2008. Today, the Janáček Brno International Festival is the only one in the world to present Leoš Janáček in the very places where he worked, lived and created for more than fifty years.

The Janáček Brno Festival is one of the most important events on the European cultural map, which nurtures the artistic legacy and comprehensively presents the work of one of the greatest Czech composers, Leoš Janáček, in an international context. Even in the Czech Republic, the position of the Janáček Brno Festival is unique, as it is the only one to present complete opera productions performed by both foreign and Czech ensembles in the aforementioned scope. Thanks to its international reputation, the festival has established artistic cooperation, quite exceptional in the Czech Republic.

It has staged productions by leading international composers such as Robert Carsen, Claus Guth, David Pountney, Kornél Mundruczó, Robert Wilson, Calixto Bieito, Harry Kupfer, Peter Konwitschny, Tatiana Gürbaca, David Radok and Jiří Kylián, and has collaborated with leading conductors such as Jakub Hrůša, Tomáš Netopil, Tomáš Hanus, Robert Jindra and Marko Ivanović. Cooperation with leading opera houses – whether in the form of guest performances or co-productions in the creation of productions for the festival – is also key, including the Welsh National Opera, Staatsoper Berlin, Teatro Real Madrid, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Opera Antwerp, Staatsteather Nürnberg, Theatre an der Wien, Wiener Staatsoper, Göteborg Opera and others.

In just six years, the Janáček Brno Festival has become one of the best opera festivals in the world and was the first in the Czech Republic to win the prestigious International Opera Awards for the best festival of 2018. The National Theatre Brno has thus placed its festival in the company of the best artists and companies from all over the opera world. 

Janáček Brno has gained a reputation as a dramaturgically profiled event with not only supra-regional, but above all international scope. As statistics from ticket sales show, the festival is regularly visited by audiences from more than 30 countries. The Janáček – Brno connection is a very strong brand that has considerable potential for further growth with significance for the whole region and the Czech Republic. Given the current popularity of Janáček’s works in the world, it is necessary to invest as much as possible in the development and use of this potential. Brno is a city inseparably linked with Leoš Janáček – this, together with the festival, creates a magnet for visitors and the professional public with a global reach. The exclusivity of the festival also lies in the environment of the city and region associated with the personality of the master. The festival presents concerts and productions in the architectural gems of the region (Villa Tugendhat, the National Theatre in Brno, the Leoš Janáček Memorial and other attractive spaces in the region). 

The main aim of the festival is to commemorate the importance of Leoš Janáček’s composer personality in the place where he worked and created for more than fifty years, in the form of a prestigious biennial. The festival dramaturgy is based on the confrontation of the conception of L. Janáček’s work by prominent artistic personalities and placing Janáček’s work in the context of the time of its creation as well as in the contemporary context. The festival thus enables the continuous development of the interpretation of Leoš Janáček’s works at the highest international level. 

A brief history of The Janáček Brno Festival:

2023 – Preview festival concerts

2022 – 8th year of Janáček Brno Festival

2021 – Autumn Finals of Janáček Brno 2020

2020 – 7th year of Janáček Brno Festival

2019 – Preview festival concerts

2018 – 6th year of Janáček Brno Festival

2017 – Preview festival concerts 

2016 – 5th year of Janáček Brno Festival

2014 – 4th year of Janáček Brno Festival

2012 – 3rd year of Janáček Brno Festival

2010 – 2nd year of Janáček Brno Festival

2008 – 1st year of Janáček Brno Festival

2004 – 0th year of Janáček Brno Festival

The International Opera Awards

It has only taken six editions of the biennial Janáček Brno festival for it to work its way up to being one of the best festivals in the world. Janáček Brno was the first festival in the Czech Republic to win the prestigious International Opera Awards prize for the best festival of 2018 (for more information, please see: www.operaawards.org).