27. 5. 2024
In 2025, the movable feast of Easter does not fall until mid-April, the final phase of the Easter cycle. They are therefore, unlike 2024, quite distant from the Feast of the Annunciation (25 March). According to tradition, that is when the words “Become” (fiat) were first heard – in this case from the mouth of Mary. From the mouth of Jesus, then, similar words – not my will, but yours be done – come out on Maundy Thursday. In these most extraordinary situations, words of reconciliation are spoken. Let us be reminded that reconciliation is not only to be understood as a patient surrender, but also as a readiness and determination to accept and fulfil one’s mission.
The Easter Festival of Sacred Music accompanies its listeners during Holy and Holy Week. Once again, it includes repertoire from medieval chant to the present day, once again touring the churches of Brno, but not only. For the first time in Brno, Arvo Pärt’s famous Johannes-Passion, Oscar Peterson’s jazzy Easter Suite, Marc’Antoine Ziani’s baroque oratorio and Diego Ortiz’s Renaissance Vespers will be performed. The dark hours of the festival will exceptionally leave the traditional premises of the Jesuit church and explore the spaces of Brno’s unique water tanks through various forms of medieval chant. The festival and the people around it are already looking forward to the listeners who will take it upon themselves to become and explore different forms of sacred music and its messages.
Vladimír Maňas
one of the festival’s dramaturgs