21. 11. 2025
HM 2025: FULL ON! LIVE! HERE’S TO YOU!
Nine concerts, 150 performers from 13 countries around the world, and nearly 5,000 satisfied listeners - that is the outcome of the recent 23rd Harmonia Moraviae festival which ran from September 18th to November 6th in Zlín. This multi-genre showcase organized by the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra has shown yet again that it not only delivers music of the highest artistic quality, but also provides an open platform where different styles, generations, and national traditions can all come together.
The programming of this year's festival was symbolically inspired by the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Zlín Philharmonic Orchestra, respectfully commemorating the orchestra's history while offering a fresh perspective on contemporary music. The main festival venue was once again the Zlín Congress Centre, whose modern architecture and acoustics provided the ideal space for symphonic, chamber, and jazz concerts.
Naturally enough, the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra was in the spotlight, performing both as a full symphony orchestra and in smaller chamber groups, allowing the audience to hear the musicians in the full range of their performing and expressive talent. They were joined on stage by a number of exceptional guests, with Latvian violin virtuoso Baiba Skride captivating the audience with her brilliant rendition of Shostakovich's Second Violin Concerto, and Lukáš Vondráček, one of today’s most outstanding Czech pianists, enchanting listeners with his technical mastery and perfect phrasing in his performance of Chopin's Concerto in F minor. Talented Bulgarian cellist Darin Lambrev and violinist Pavla Tesařová, concertmaster of the PKF–Prague Philharmonia, also brought their youthful energy and fresh tone to a festival programme complemented by many other guest performers. The Olomouc Military Band filled the hall with a unique atmosphere with their faultless performance and energy in Janáček's Sinfonietta, and The Trio, made up of leading musicians from the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, also gave an impressive display, delighting the audience with their performance of Beethoven's Triple Concerto. Another highlight of this year's festival was the concert by the Elévé Quintet, made up of the Orchestra’s musicians and their chief conductor.
Harmonia Moraviae has never been a festival limited exclusively to classical music, and this year was no exception. The audience enjoyed a concert dedicated to the legendary Meky Žbirka, whose timeless songs were performed in a new, instrumentally sophisticated form. The jazz highlight was provided by Rudy Linka together with Swiss pianist Lorenzo de Finti, who, together with the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra, created a thrilling mix of modern jazz and symphonic sound, combining spontaneity with precision, and lightness with artistic confidence as they brought the entire festival to a close.
The 23rd Harmonia Moraviae festival once again proved its ability to transcend stylistic and generational boundaries in a programme naturally interweaving brilliant compositions of world classics with original contemporary projects, jazz, and popular music. Each concert had a character and atmosphere of its own, but together they created a vivid and lively festival picture. The next Harmonia Moraviae festival, the 24th, comes round again next autumn when it will be themed as "Returning to the Roots."
