27th year of the International Music Festival Český Krumlov 2018

For the twenty-seventh time a multigenre musical display of European importance - the International Music Festival, which, besides leading artists of the contemporary foreign and Czech musical scene, will also present young talented artists, will take place in Český Krumlov. Between 20th July and 11th September the festival will offer a total of 22 music productions of different genres - an opera gala concert, symphony and chamber concerts, an organ concert, authentic interpretation, a swing, a musical and crossover. All that, as always, in attractive locations in Český Krumlov which enhance musical experiences.

The festival will start with an artistically interpreted musical fairy-tale play, during which the Gypsy Devils, Christiane Noll and Hugh Panaro, Jiří Bárta, Sooyeon Kim and others will make an appearance. The second festival evening will belong to two world opera stars who have appeared at the Metropolitan Opera and on other prestigious stages - Polish tenor Piotr Beczała and Canadian soprano Sondra Radvanovsky. They will be accompanied by the PKF - Prague Philharmonia under the baton of Leoš Svárovský. Among other big personalities of classical music who will make an appearance at this year's festival you will find, for example, brilliant Spanish pianist Javier Perianes with the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Manuel Hernández-Silva and Korean violoncellist Mee-Hae Ryo, who will play one of the most beautiful cello concertos, Dvořák's Concerto for cello and orchestra in B minor, together with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Christian Schulz.

The festival will also honour a number of personalities whose anniversary we will commemorate in 2018. The Wihan Quartet will pay tribute to the 90th anniversary of Leoš Janáček's death with a concert written by this composer and German violinist Tanja Becker Bender accompanied by the South Czech Philharmonic will honour an important Czech music personality, Emil Friedmann Kossuth, from whose birth a hundred years will have passed next year.

However, the festival will also offer refreshing popular genres. One of the best orchestras in the ethno and world music category, the Gypsy Devils will present a dance-musical performance inspired by G. Bizet's opera titled "Carmen Fantasy by Gypsy Devils". In it they masterfully combine folklore with other music genres (jazz, ethno, flamenco) while adding unique virtuosity, which forms an integral part of their artistic expression. Hradišťan & Jiří Pavlica are a unique group of a high artistic and interpretative level, with an unusually wide range of genres and untraditional repertoire, which at the beginning focused mainly on folk traditions. The special swing evening in Las Vegas style titled "Keep Swinging!" will be presented by Jan Smigmator, Dasha, Tom Gaebel, the Felix Slováček RTV Big Band and the dance group Pop Balet. They will present songs by George Gerschwin, whose 120th anniversary since his birth will be celebrated around the world in 2018, and also famous songs by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, Duke Ellington, Michel Legrand, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin. An afterparty with a casino (roulette, poker, blackjack), an electroswing DJ, a dance floor with swing dance teaching, a degustation bar and an evening banquet are a part of the evening. During this year's musical evening the 100th anniversary of the birth of brilliant American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein will be remembered. Broadway soloists - Christiane Noll, Dee Roscioli, Hugh Panaro and Darius de Haas - accompanied by the North Czech Philharmonic Teplice under the baton of Randall Craig Fleischer, will interpret a selection from Bernstein's famous works On the Town, Candide, West Side Story and others.

An important anniversary will also be reflected in the closing Czech-Slovak Evening. The 100th "birthday" of our state will be celebrated with the popular band Čechomor, which will celebrate 30 years of its existence next year, the Vlado Kumpan Brass Band, Military Music Olomouc and the legendary Slovak dance ensemble Lúčnica.

The festival also regularly gives an opportunity to young laureates of interpretation competitions. Two of the most promising violin virtuosos of the incoming generation, Miroslav Ambroš and Jaroslaw Nadrzycki, accompanied by the South Czech Philharmonic under the baton of Jan Kučera, will give a joint concert. Contemporary music will be presented at the concert of the absolute winner of Concerto Bohemia, the ensemble Francisextet. 

Experience the combination of beautiful melodies with the magical atmosphere of Český Krumlov during the 27th year of the IMF Český Krumlov 2018!

The tickets at Infoceter Český Krumlov available.

PROGRAM 2018

PHOTOGALLERY