Olomouc Music Spring festival

Today's form of the festival was created in cooperation between two cultural organisations from Olomouc, which certainly can also be described as bearers of the city's cultural identity, namely the Olomouc Baroque Festival Association, z.s. and the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra Olomouc. The aim of the meeting of the representatives of these organizations was to preserve the oldest festival of the Olomouc region, which was organized by the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra until 2022. The result of the negotiations was the union of two leading Olomouc festivals, the Olomouc Baroque Festival and Dvořák's Olomouc. The name Olomouc Music Spring festival comes from history, when in 1957 the very first year was held under this name.

The 68th year of the festival has the subtitle THE WORLD OF THE POWERFUL, within which it will draw attention to the patrons (donators) of the arts, whose love for music and culture in general and especially their financial support was behind the creation of many musical works.

The 68th edition of the Olomouc Musical Spring Festival will present a total of 12 musical projects in various venues throughout the city, which will present musical creations from the 14th century to the present. The opening concert, at which one of the most progressive ensembles on the music scene, Vilém Veverka Trioplus, will perform for the very first time in Olomouc, will outline to visitors what they can experience at the festival in 2025. The multi-genre group's repertoire includes music from the early Baroque to the present day.

Among the biggest projects that the festival will present in 2025, one can certainly mention the concert held in the church of St. Moric, which Symphony No. 2 by Gustav Mahler, Resurrection, will be performed by the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno, Kateřina Kněžíková and Jarmila Vantuchová performing as soloists. The entire concert will be conducted by Robert Kružík.

The Prague Symphony Orchestra - FOK, who will perform in Olomouc after almost 30 years, will also visit the festival. Sara Dragan will perform as a violin soloist, who will perform in Olomouc for the very first time. The entire concert, which will present the works of Ludwig van Beethoven, Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Dmitri Shostakovich, will be staged by the conductor of European stature, Tomáš Netopil. The final concert will take place on Upper Square, when on May 8 we will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in a joint project of the festival, the Moravian Theater and the Moravian Philharmonic and the Army of the Czech Republic (represented by SwingDixie Orchestra).The third highlight and at the same time the absolute opposite of the above-mentioned concerts, which by themselves, due to their size, take up half of the hall or the church, is the Vivaldi 300 project, which, led by the excellent violinist Josef Žák, will certainly present the most famous baroque work, Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons, in an authentic interpretation. The work will celebrate the 300th anniversary of its premiere this year. The piece will be accompanied by a reading of the sonnets that inspired Vivaldi to write his most popular piece today.

Since the festival is also based on the musical creations of Czech and Moravian and unjustly forgotten composers, Brno ensembles will perform at the festival, whose artistic directors are among the best in music professional circles. Eduard Tomaštík, focusing on the music of the 16th and 17th centuries, with the ensemble Societas Incognitorum will present the works of C. Cocchi (Sunday Vespers) and P.J. Rittler (Missa Carolina) in modern premieres, Marek Čermák, on the other hand, focusing on the work of Moravian composers of the 18th and early 19th centuries, will present with his ensemble Musica figuralis the work of A. Neumann (baritone trio).

The festival certainly belongs to the largest festivals in Moravia due to its breadth, size and musical offer.