Music can deal in an original and meaningful way with material that is considered "dusty" or even "dead". This year's festival proves this point in several ways.
Concerning opera, Robert Ashley, one of America's most influential composers of contemporary experimental opera, makes a chamber version of Foreign Experiences Does the absorption of folklore tradition belong in the national revival or world music? Mehmet Can Özer, the Turkish composer and improviser, demonstrates in Siyah Kalem Dance that it can be even different. And what about the pop music? The international musical configuration don@u.com shows that pop music isn't only required equipment for a street musician, but also the rich source of subsequent improvisations. You can also hear the music of the young German cellist of Czech origin, Jan-Filip Ťupa, whose reputation is growing in the field of modern music interpretation. You can see him in Brno in duo with the Swiss pianist Reto Staub performing compositions relating intentionally to time phenomenon. The multimedia dance project V-Trike composed by the Austrian musician Bernhard Lang is very likely to attract a good crowd.
Vítězslav Mikeš, Head Dramaturge