Josefstadt / Brutal Assault (od 12. do 14. srpna)
Fans of metal music did not lose the Brutal Assault festival this year either. Just like last year, the organizers come with a shorter variant. Under the name Josefstadt, the historic Josefov fortress in Jaroměř will blow up for three days, from 12 to 14 August. Forty performers will perform on two stages. The biggest names include Swedish death metalists Hypocrisy or Polish Vader. They arrive as substitutes for the Dutch band Pestilence, which eventually dropped out of the roster due to a pandemic situation.
“We follow a bit of the old line of Brutal Assault, when there were fewer bands and a lot of foreign ones, but rather smaller ones. And the festival is dramaturgically tighter. Compared to last year, we have not expanded to the city, “points out Tomáš Fiala on behalf of the organizers. The organizers expect that the Brutal Assault alternative will not be missed by four thousand visitors.
The pentagonal fortification built by the Habsburgs hides one of the largest underground shaft systems in Europe. Even this year, Josefov’s underground will be open to fans. Next year, they would like to celebrate the festival’s twice-delayed 25th birthday, ideally in its full version.
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Brno Music Marathon (from 12 to 15 August)
On August 12, the Music Marathon was launched in Brno. Until Sunday, he will play over 250 concerts of various music genres. For example, for the first time in Brno, listeners will be introduced to Lenka Dusilová with the Řeka Live program, which brought her together with the band Květy. Tomáš Matonoha will also premiere a songwriting project in his hometown. The new program “Ellaboration” was prepared by the singer Dasha with the string quartet Epoque Quartet.
“Streetless busking” will be repeated again. Guitarist Mariusz Goli, Crazy Accordeon Trio from Poland and the Slovak duo T-Bee Girsl will play in the music rooms created by the artist Kateřina Šedá. He also moved part of his program to the Music Marathon at the ZUŠ Open “zušek” festival. In addition, a partner festival takes place on the boards, tiles and grass, which will offer twenty theater performances with an emphasis on the new circus. It will be opened by Cirk La Putyka.
Letní Letná (from 12 to 31 August)
The Summer Summer Festival chose the “light version” last year, in its eighteenth, adult year, it decided to return with a full-fledged program. After the success of Tatiana-Mosio Bongong, who crossed the Vltava rope in 2019, they also invited a rope walker to this year’s opening. Frenchwoman Johanne Humblet will open a show of theater and a new circus on August 12, and will perform other evenings.
French acrobats dominated the entire foreign program. “Cirque Le Roux, which viewers had the opportunity to see five years ago, will arrive again. Then there will be Compagnie 100 Issues or Cirque La Compagnie with the performance L’Avis Bidon, which was specially selected for us by the Marseille festival BIAC. The foreign program promises perfect experiences. And the audience will certainly appreciate the program of the Czech new circus scene, “assumes the festival manager Ivana Pěkná Vrbíková.
The AirGym Art Company, the Juggling Ensemble, the La Putyka Circus and the Losers Cirque Company have prepared novelties from domestic ensembles, which will even present their first performance for children called the MiMJs. The entire Children’s Stage is also ready for young spectators. The Summer Summer program will last until the end of August. “We hope to return to what we were used to, to full and sold-out performances,” wishes Ivana Pěkná Vrbíková.
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Ostrava Days (from 19 to 28 August)
The Ostrava Days will once again focus on contemporary music. They have prepared Czech and world premieres and musical marathons for the period from 19 to 28 August. Two hundred musicians will gather at the biennial, performing in several places in Ostrava, from Trojhalí Karolina through the Jiří Myron Theater, the Cathedral of the Divine Savior to the BrickHouse music club in the Lower Vítkovice area.
“Everywhere we prepare large orchestral compositions, choral, chamber and electronic music, site-specific performances. Works by authors such as Steve Reich, Peter Graham, Karlheinz Strockhausen, Roland Dahinden, Petr Kotík or Michal Rataj will be performed, “said Silvie Marková on behalf of the organizers.
Rock for People Hope (13. až 14. srpna)
The “classic” Rock for People will not take place this year due to covid restrictions. At Hradec Králové Airport, however, he will be replaced by a two-day Rock for People Hope event. The “light version” of the twice-delayed festival will welcome domestic and foreign performers.
Among the performers will be, for example, Swedish rockers Mando Diao, Dutch De Staat or Northern Irish singer JC Stewart. The current winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, the Italian rock band Maneskin, will also perform. PSH hip-hop miners will arrive from the Czech scene.
CZ Castles (from 20 to 28 August)
A less extensive program was also prepared by the Hrady CZ festival. It will start on Friday and Saturday, August 20 and 21 in Hradec nad Moravicí, and will end the holidays on the weekend of August 27 and 28 in Bezděz. Visitors can look forward to concerts by Czech and Slovak musicians.
At both castle stops Mig 21, Pokáč, Xindl X, UDG, Support Lesbiens and Sebastian. The program will also include Tomáš Klus, Rybičky 48, Divokej Bill or No Name. Admission to Hradec nad Moravicí and Bezděz will be free after purchasing the festival ticket. Friday’s carnival will not be missing.
The organizers recorded a gradual disintegration. They responded by adding more tickets to the sale. Up to seven thousand people can come to the festival and the obligation to have an auditorium divided into two sectors has disappeared.
Ibérica (from 19 to 28 August)
This year, the Ibérica festival, dedicated to music, dance and gastronomy of Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries, will visit three places in the Czech Republic. In addition to Brno and Prague, Bohemia pod Kosířem in the Prostějov region was added. The show, which visitors are accustomed to at the turn of June and July, has been moved to the end of the holidays due to a pandemic.
“Due to the very difficult situation in Spain, we were forced to change our artistic dramaturgy and reduce the number of Spanish artists,” said Petr Vít, the artistic director, about the program in mid-July. However, listeners will not miss a gala concert in the courtyard of Špilberk Castle, dedicated to the presentation of the contemporary Spanish flamenco scene. Colombia is the guest of honor of the current year. Music, film and fine arts will bring this South American country closer.
“The traditional gala concert of Ibérica will not take place this year at Špilberk Castle, but in Brno’s Besední dům, but on the other hand, the festival’s activities extend to the castles of Lysice and Čechy pod Kosířem,” he listed another restriction.
Karlovy Vary Film Festival (from 20 to 28 August)
After a one-year break, film fans will see the festival in Karlovy Vary. The main guests are already known. Actors Johnny Depp, Michael Caine and Ethan Hawke promised a visit from foreign stars. The opening will be arranged by the postponed premiere of David Ondříček’s novelty about runner Emil Zátopek. Director Jan Svěrák will receive the award for his contribution to cinematography.
The program of competitive and non-competitive sections will offer a total of over thirty premieres. For the first time in the competition, the festival does not distinguish between feature and documentary films. The Czech creators in the main competition are represented by, among others, the Atlas of Birds by the Slovenian but living in the Czech Republic and creating director Olm Omerzu. The festival winner from 2017, Václav Kadrnka, is returning to the competition, with the Report on the Rescue of the Dead. The crystal globe can also be obtained from the documents of Erika Hníková (Every Minute of Life) and Mira Rema (Love Under the Hood).
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Zlatá Pecka Chrudim (from 21 to 30 August)
The Zlatá Pecka Chrudim music festival, sponsored by mezzo-soprano Dagmar Pecková, is dedicated to this year’s opera singer Maria Callasová. Such an intention was already last year. “As a tribute to the great artist, we also conceived our program this year. At least we will try to bring her life, art and repertoire closer to our audience through our top singing performers in a concert called The Maria Callas Phenomenon, in feature and documentary films and photographs. An interesting insight will also be provided by works of art by leading Czech visual artists, “said Petr Drahoš on behalf of the organizer.
There will also be a performance of the Prague Children’s Opera, a musical evening by Dagmar Pecková with the upcoming singing generation and a concert by the Epoque Quartet with Maria Svobodová and Jan Kučera. On the contrary, the originally planned concert of the Big Band Chrudim in the Monastery Gardens will not take place, the musicians did not have the opportunity to rehearse during the epidemic.
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