#Press Release: Orchestral feast in an industrial setting
Publikováno: 26.5.2025
Ostrava, May 26, 2025 – For 25 years, Ostrava Days has established itself as a festival with a strong focus on orchestral music. This year is no exception. Once again, the large-scale orchestral concerts will take place in the former power station of the Karolina coking plant, now the monumental covered plaza known as Double Hall Karolina, along with the adjacent Control Room. World premieres and avant-garde works of the 20th century will be performed by the international Ostravská banda and ONO – Ostrava New Orchestra. In many pieces, the two ensembles will join forces, bringing together more than a hundred musicians on stage.Two major orchestral events will frame the festival: the Orchestra Opening concert featuring works for three orchestras (Sunday, August 24), and the Grand Finale, culminating in the Czech premiere of Luigi Nono’s Como una ola de fuerza y luz (Saturday, August 30).It is this demanding orchestral format—challenging in terms of personnel, preparation, and execution—that defines Ostrava Days and sets it apart from other contemporary music festivals both in the Czech Republic and abroad.
For fans of site-specific performance and the noise machines known as intonarumori (August 21), automatic and algorithmic composition (August 22), and a marathon of electronic music (August 23), the festival prologue will take place in the unique setting of the Lower Vítkovice industrial complex. The first major orchestral concert is subtitled Compositions for Three Orchestras and pays homage to the concert for three orchestras and three conductors in 1999—a milestone event that inspired composer and conductor Petr Kotík to found Ostrava Days: “When I was invited nearly thirty years ago to conduct at the Prague Spring Festival, I proposed a concert titled Music in Space, featuring works for three orchestras—Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Gruppen, Earl Brown’s Module I, II, III, Giovanni Gabrieli’s Sacrae Symphoniae, and Alvin Lucier’s Diamonds. At that time, I started rehearsing in Ostrava with the Janáček Philharmonic, and I realized the opportunities this city offered. That’s when the first idea for Ostrava Days came to me.”
The concept of a concert for three orchestras marks another milestone in the history of Ostrava Days: it was with such a concert in 2015 that we first performed at the covered square of Triple Hall Karolina, which has since become our primary “concert hall.”This year’s program will revisit several key works from that original Prague Spring concept: the mesmerizing Diamonds (1999) by Alvin Lucier, the densely droning Three Orchids (2002–03) by Phill Niblock, and Variations for Three Orchestras (2003–05) by Petr Kotík, which explores varying degrees of coordination and independence among instrumental groups.We have also commissioned a brand-new work from Austrian composer Bernhard Lang, titled GAME XXII for Ostrava. This large-scale composition for three orchestras and three conductors—Johannes Kalitzke, Petr Kotík, and Peter Rundel—was completed only a few months ago. We are currently in the process of preparing the individual instrumental parts for performance.
Bernhard Lang is one of the most important composers of our time. His work can be described as modern contemporary art, with roots not only in European classical music and the avant-garde of the 20th century, but also in jazz, rock, punk, techno, and computer music. Since 2009, Bernhard Lang has been a regular guest at the festival, returning with his compositions year after year. He reflects: “I’ve experienced many festivals over the past thirty years. But when I first came to Ostrava in 2009, it was like a breath of fresh air: unlike other events, nothing here was taken for granted. There was a spirit of openness, courage, determination, and deep dedication to music and art. (…) Ostrava Days is also a major social event—an opportunity to meet fellow composers and performers, as well as an enthusiastic audience that keeps coming back year after year.” The opening orchestral concert will take place in Triple Hall Karolina (city center), Ostrava, on Sunday, August 24, at 6:00 PM.
Ostravská banda and ONO – Ostrava New Orchestra will join forces once again at Triple Hall Karolina on Thursday, August 28. On this evening, audiences will witness the world premieres of new works by Martin Klusák, Luboš Mrkvička, Christian Wolff, and Alex Mincek. Orchestral music will take center stage on the final day of the festival, Saturday, August 30. That evening will feature the world premiere of No. 3 by Petr Bakla, as well as the Piano Concerto by Ian Davis, one of the resident composers of the OD Institute (Miroslav Beinhauer, piano solo).For the first time in the Czech Republic, the monumental Meduse by Swedish composer Lisa Streich will be performed. Streich will attend the festival for the first time, with the virtuosic Hungarian trumpet player Tamás Pálfalvi taking on the demanding solo part. The piece will be conducted by one of the most sought-after interprets of contemporary music, Peter Rundel. After two years, Canadian composer Annesley Black returns to Ostrava Days with her work a sound, a narrow, a channel, an inlet, the straits, the barrens the stretch of a neck. In addition, resident composer Louis Wishart will present his piece Are Ye Then With God?, featuring soprano Markéta Drabina Schaffartzik as soloist.
A top contender for the highlight of this year’s Ostrava Days is the Czech premiere of Luigi Nono’s monumental half-hour workComo una ola de fuerza y luz (Like a Wave of Strength and Light, 1971–72). The title—which is sometimes extended in sources to include the dedication a Luciano Cruz, para vivir (To Luciano Cruz, for life)—is not merely a poetic metaphor. The piece was composed as a tribute to Chilean revolutionary Luciano Cruz, who died under unclear circumstances in August 1971 at the age of just 27. The phrase for life reflects Nono’s belief that music should be an act of civic engagement—a struggle for freedom and human dignity—not merely an aesthetic object. The composition, scored for approximately 85 musicians, will be conducted by Johannes Kalitzke. The solo parts will be performed by pianist Daan Vandewalle and mezzo-soprano Annette Schönmüller, with Matthias Schneider-Hollek handling the electronics.
