Ostravská banda was formed in August 2005, as the resident chamber orchestra of Ostrava Days. OB consists of young musicians from Europeand the United States whose primary interest is the performance of new music. Along with their residency at the Ostrava Days festival, OB performs its own concerts.
Major concerts have included programs at the Paris Conservatory, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, Akademie der Künste in Berlin, Vredenburg Music Centre in Utrecht and Prague Spring Festival, among others. Along with Petr Kotík, artistic director of the orchestra, conductors such as Roland Kluttig, Peter Rundel and Ondřej Vrabec have cooperated with Ostravská banda.
The current repertoire of OB includes 20th-Century masterpieces (works by John Cage, Morton Feldman, György Ligeti, Luigi Nono, Edgar Varèse, Iannis Xenakis and Galina Ustwolskaja), as well as compositions by the current generation of composers (Louis Andriessen, Elliott Carter, Petr Kotík, Alvin Lucier, Tristan Murail, Phill Niblock, Salvatore Sciarrino, Wolfgang Rihm, Martin Smolka, Miroslav Srnka, Peter Graham, Petr Bakla, and Christian Wolff).
