JanÁČek in BRNO

• Category 1 or VIP tickets to eight performances at the Janáček festival in Brno, including Jenůfa, Kát’a Kabanová and The Makropulos Case

• A midweek break in Prague, including two performances and guided tours of Prague Castle and the Lobkowicz Collection and its manuscripts hand annotated by Mozart and Beethoven

• The art of Alphonse Mucha in the museum dedicated to the Czech artist in Prague and his monumental Slavic Epic in Moravský Krumlov

• Modern architecture from the art nouveau of Municipal House in Prague to the stunning Villa Tugendhat in Brno, a masterpiece of Mies van der Rohe

• Detailed pre-performance talks exploring the life and music of Janáček and social debriefs over post-performance drinks

The tour includes 10 performances:

Performance #1
Program: Leoš Janáček, Jenůfa
Performers: Jakub Hrůša (Conductor), Michael Glassner (Director), Corinne Winters (Jenůfa), Nicky Spence (Laca Klemen), Thomas Atkins (Steva Buryja), and Opera Janáček with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra
Venue: Janáček Theatre

Performance #2
Program: Emil Frantisek Burian, String Quartet No. 4; Bela Bartók, String Quartet No. 2; Janáček, String Quartet No. 2 “Intimate Letters”
Performers: Zemlinsky Quartet
Venue: Villa Tugendhat

Performance #3
Program: TBC (Prague)

Performance #4
Program: TBC (Prague)

Performance #5
Program: Janáček, The Beginning of a Romance
Performers: Ondrej Olos (conductor), Raman Hasymau (Baron Adolf), Tonek (Michael Robotka)
Venue: Aula Rektoratu

Performance #6
Program: Janáček, Kát’a Kabanová
Performers: Robert Jindra (Conductor), Krzysztof Warlikowski (Director), Corinne Winters (Katya), Pavel Černoch (Boris), John Daszak (Tichon), Violeta Urmana (Kabanicha), Bavarian State Opera
Venue: Janáček Theatre

Performance #7
Program: Palestrina, Missa Brevis; Janáček, Exaudi Deus; Bach, Magnificat
Performers: Concert Collegium 1704
Venue: Basilica of St Mary

Performance #8
Program: Janáček, The Makropulos Case
Performers: Robert Kružík (Conductor), David Radok (Director), Jana Šrejma Kačírková (Emilia Marty), Aleš Briscein (Albert), Janáček Opera
Venue: Janáček Theatre

Performance #9
Program: Janáček, Šárka
Performers: Dominik Pernica (conductor), Julius Drake (piano), Eliška Gattringerová (Sarka), Nicky Spence (Ctirad)
Venue: Janáček Theatre

Performance #10
Program: Janáček, From the House of the Dead; Glagolitic Mass
Performers: Robert Kružík (conductor), Jacob Hruša (Director), Roman Hoza (Goryanchikov), Štefan Margita (Luka), Janáček Opera
Venue: Janáček Theatre

FRIDAY 6 NOVEMBER – ARRIVAL (CANAPES)
Private transfers to Brno are available from either Prague or Vienna. We gather together at the hotel in Brno in the early evening for introductions over drinks and canapes. Evening at leisure. If you would like to attend an additional performance this evening of Janáček’s Jealousy, with Dvorak’s The Wild Dove and Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, please contact us after booking your place on the tour. Overnight Brno

SATURDAY 7 NOVEMBER – BRNO AND PERFORMANCE #1 (B, L)
Brno is the capital of Moravia, one of the three historic Czech realms, which had been Crown Land of the Kings of Bohemia from the 14th to 20th centuries. The city has been well-preserved, and its city centre retains many of its historic buildings. This morning, after a talk in the hotel about this evening’s performance, we undertake a walking tour of the city centre, learning about its history and Janáček’s life there. We then enjoy a welcome lunch together, after which there is time to relax before our first performance: Jenůfa in the Janáček Theatre. This opera was Janáček’s first major success, and its story of a prejudiced small-minded community faced with murder resonates as strongly today as ever. Martin Glasser’s 2015 production received excellent reviews and is conducted by an exceptional Czech musician: Jakub Hrůša, the new music director of London’s Royal Opera. The brilliant American soprano Corinne Winters sings Jenůfa with Scottish tenor Nicky Spence as her misanthropic cousin Laca. Overnight, Brno

Performance #1
Program: Leoš Janáček, Jenůfa
Performers: Jakub Hrůša (Conductor), Michael Glassner (Director), Corinne Winters (Jenůfa), Nicky Spence (Laca Klemen), Thomas Atkins (Steva Buryja), and Opera Janáček with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra
Venue: Janáček Theatre

SUNDAY 8 NOVEMBER – JANÁČEK HOUSE, VILLA TUGENDHAT, PERFORMANCE #2 (B, L)
This morning, after a talk in the hotel, we take a guided tour of Janáček House, where the composer lived from 1910 until his death in 1928. It was here that he composed his most famous works including Káťa Kabanová and The Cunning Little Vixen. We then enjoy lunch together before a mid-afternoon performance of masterful string quartets by Janáček, Bartok and Burian by the Zemlinsky Quartet at Villa Tugendhat, an intimate historic venue. The residence was designed by Mies van der Rohe for Greta and Fritz Tugendhat and is the epitome of the modernist principles propounded by Van der Rohe, prior to his emigration to the US. After the performance, we return to the hotel for post-performance drinks and discussion. The evening is at leisure. Overnight Brno

Performance #2
Program: Emil Frantisek Burian, String Quartet No. 4; Bela Bartók, String Quartet No. 2; Janáček, String Quartet No. 2 “Intimate Letters”
Performers: Zemlinsky Quartet
Venue: Villa Tugendhat

MONDAY 9 NOVEMBER – MORAVSKÝ KRUMLOV (B, L)
We travel to Prague today, where we will enjoy some excellent performances between our weekends at the Janáček festival. En route, we visit Alphonse Mucha’s masterpiece – The Slav Epic in Moravský Krumlov. These 20 monumental canvases were painted by Mucha between 1910 and 1928, and tell the history of the Czech nation and the Slavic people’s more generally. We then have lunch at a local restaurant, before continuing to Prague, where we arrive in the late afternoon. Evening at leisure. Overnight Prague

TUESDAY 10 NOVEMBER – PRAGUE OLD TOWN AND PERFORMANCE #3 (B)
This morning, after a talk in the hotel, we take a walking tour of Prague’s Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed site that is often regarded as one of Europe’s most beautiful. Our walking tour includes Municipal House, an exceptional art-nouveau building in which much of the original interior decoration – created by Alphonse Mucha and others – is preserved. After a break for lunch, we visit the Mucha Museum, which houses the world’s finest and most extensive collection of the artist’s work, including the numerous designs for magazine covers and posters for which he is famous. After time to relax in the afternoon, we attend a performance in Prague.

Performance #3
Program: TBC

WEDNESDAY 11 NOVEMBER – PRAGUE CASTLE, PERFORMANCE #4 (B)
This morning, after a talk in the hotel, we visit Prague Castle, another wonderful monument to Prague’s golden age. We begin our tour with a guided tour of St Vitus’s Cathedral, one of the finest Gothic buildings in Czechia, where the Kings of Bohemia were crowned, and Vladisav Hall, which served as the castle’s centre of diplomacy (and banqueting). After a break for lunch, we continue our visit at Lobkowicz Palace, the private residence of the princely family that is part of the castle complex. The collections of the Lobkowicz family are exceptional, with paintings by Bruegel the Elder and Velazquez, and – even more rare – Mozart and Beethoven’s hand annotated manuscripts. Returning to the hotel, there is time to relax before we attend our fourth performance. Overnight Prague

Performance #4
Program: TBC

THURSDAY 12 NOVEMBER – MAHLER AT JIHLAVA, PERFORMANCE #5 (B, L)
We leave Prague by coach this morning, bound for our second weekend at the Brno festival. On our way, we stop at Jihlava, the birthplace of Gustav Mahler. Here we visit the museum dedicated to the composer, which recounts the composer’s life and stormy relationship with Alma and the influence of Czech folk music on his music. After lunch at a local restaurant, we continue to Brno. In the evening, we attend our fifth performance The Beginning of Romance at the Aula Rektoratu. This opera is a real rarity and has never been recorded. It follows the story of the love between the village girl, Poluska, and a young nobleman, Adolf, a relationship that Adolf’s parents find unacceptable. The music is derived from Janáček’s transcriptions of Czech folk songs, and was composed before Jenůfa took his use of traditional music in a different direction. Overnight Brno

Performance #5
Program: Janáček, The Beginning of a Romance
Performers: Ondrej Olos (conductor), Raman Hasymau (Baron Adolf), Tonek (Michael Robotka)
Venue: Aula Rektoratu

FRIDAY 13 NOVEMBER – AUSTERLITZ, PERFORMANCE #6 (B, L)
The Battle of Austerlitz defined nineteenth-century Europe: the victory of Napoleon and his Grand Armee saw the end of the Holy Roman Empire and the newly created empire of Austria-Hungary seek peace with Napoleon. Today we visit the historic battlefield, where we’ll learn more about Napoleon’s tactical brilliance on the field, before visiting Slavkov Castle, a beautiful Baroque monument in whose lavish interiors Napoleon celebrated his victory. After touring the palace and lunch in a local restaurant, we return to Brno where there is time at leisure before this evening’s performance of Janáček’s opera Kát’a Kabanová, a kind of operatic Madame Bovary in which a woman trapped in a loveless marriage falls in love with someone equally unsuitable. The production, by Polish director Krzysztof Warlikowski, comes from the Bavarian State Opera and is led by the excellent Czech conductor Robert Jindra. Kata is sung by Corinne Winters with her lover Boris sung by Czech tenor Pavel Černoch. British tenor John Daszak sings her husband Tichon with the legendary Violeta Urmana as the mother-in-law from hell! Overnight Brno

Performance #6
Program: Janáček, Kát’a Kabanová
Performers: Robert Jindra (Conductor), Krzysztof Warlikowski (Director), Corinne Winters (Katya), Pavel Černoch (Boris), John Daszak (Tichon), Violeta Urmana (Kabanicha), Bavarian State Opera
Venue: Janáček Theatre

SATURDAY 14 NOVEMBER – OLOMOUC, PERFORMANCE #7 (B)
Today we take an excursion to nearby Olomouc, a city whose cultural significance in Czechia is second only to Prague. Here we take a walking tour of the pretty city centre, including its extraordinary UNESCO-listed Holy Trinity Column, the largest grouping of baroque sculptures in Central Europe. After a walking tour exploring the city and its history, we have free time for lunch before returning to Brno, for our evening performance by the fine early music ensemble, Concert Collegium 1704, led by their founder Václav Luks in the Basilica of St Mary, where Janáček sang as a young chorister. Overnight Brno

Performance #7
Program: Palestrina, Missa Brevis; Janáček, Exaudi Deus; Bach, Magnificat
Performers: Concert Collegium 1704
Venue: Basilica of St Mary

SUNDAY 15 NOVEMBER, VILLA LÖW-BEER, VILLA JURKOVIČ, PERFORMANCE #8 (B, L)
This morning, after a talk in the hotel, we visit the historic Villa Löw-Beer, an art nouveau villa designed by Alexander von Neumann in the hills above Brno, which were the fashionable place for Brno’s burgeoning bourgeois families to reside. The villa was later inhabited by the Löw-Beer Family, who would gift some of their estate to their daughter and her husband, Greta and Fritz Tugendhat, whose modernist Villa we have visited.

After our visit, we have lunch in a local restaurant, before visiting Villa Jurkovič. Another of Brno’s architectural gems, this villa was designed by the art nouveau architect Dušan Jurkovič, who was inspired by the then contemporary works of Joseph Maria Olbrich and Josef Hoffmann. Returning to the hotel in the mid-afternoon, there is time at leisure before this evening’s performance of the Makropulos Case, Janáček’s quirky penultimate opera about a centuries old legal case and a woman who has lived for over 300 years, who is desperate to get her hands on the elixir that had prolonged her life thus far. Overnight, Brno

Performance #8
Program: Janáček, The Makropulos Case
Performers: Robert Kružík (Conductor), David Radok (Director), Jana Šrejma Kačírková (Emilia Marty), Aleš Briscein (Albert), Janáček Opera
Venue: Janáček Theatre

MONDAY 16 NOVEMBER – MIKULOV, PERFORMANCE #9 (B, L)
Today we visit the Mikulov wine region on the border with Austria, Czechia’s premier district for white varietals such as Gruner-Veltliner, Muller-Thurgau, Welschriesling and Sylvaner. The slopes of the limestone dominant countryside are perfect for producing the subtle, well-structured mineral accents these varieties are loved for! Here we visit one of the region’s excellent wineries and enjoy a country lunch together, before returning to Brno for our ninth performance, a piano version of the 1888 version of Šárka. This fascinating rarity is Janáček’s first attempt at an opera, which tells the bloodthirsty tale of a warrior maiden and her band of female followers, which is inspired by the early mythic history of the Czech nation. Overnight Brno

Performance #9
Program: Janáček, Šárka
Performers: Dominik Pernica (conductor), Julius Drake (piano), Eliška Gattringerová (Sarka), Nicky Spence (Ctirad)
Venue: Janáček Theatre

TUESDAY 17 NOVEMBER – MENDEL AND THE AUGUSTINIAN MONASTERY, PERFORMANCE #10 (B, L)
This morning, after a talk in the hotel, we visit the Augustinian Monastery of St Thomas, which is inextricably linked to two of Brno’s most famous children: Janáček was sent here to study music at age 11 (and later became its organ master) and Gregor Mendel, the grandfather of genetics, conducted his famous experiments on seedlings to demonstrate the inheritability of traits. After a guided tour of the monastery and the Mendel Museum, we enjoy a farewell lunch together. The afternoon is at leisure before the final performance in our program, From the House of the Dead/Glagolitic Mass, Janáček’s final opera and the perfect example of his bold, innovative approach to music theatre. The opera is an adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s novel set in a Russian prison camp and deals with many of the issues that would arise in the 20th century with the politicisation of justice in totalitarian regimes. Despite the darkness of this subject matter, the opera is a kaleidoscope of colours, as is the Glagolitic Mass with its brass fanfares, thundering organ and extraordinary vocal melodies.  After the performance, we enjoy farewell drinks together. Overnight Brno

Performance #10
Program: Janáček, From the House of the Dead; Glagolitic Mass
Performers: Robert Kružík (conductor), Jacob Hruša (Director), Roman Hoza (Goryanchikov), Štefan Margita (Luka), Janáček Opera
Venue: Janáček Theatre

WEDNESDAY 18 NOVEMBER – DEPARTURE (B)
The tour ends after breakfast in the hotel. Departure transfers to Vienna or Prague are included, and we’ll contact you closer to departure for your preference.

The hotels we have selected are modern establishments and well located in relation to performance venues.

Accommodation

Grand Palace 5*, Brno (9 nights)
www.grandpalace.cz/en/
Deluxe rooms in a recently refurbished, central 5* hotel

Century Old Town 4*, Prague (3 nights)
www.all.accor.com/hotel/3440/index.en.shtml
Executive rooms in a well located M-Gallery Collection hotel in a restored neo-baroque building from 1895.

• 12 nights accommodation in 4* and 5* hotels

• All breakfasts and 8 lunches or dinners

• 8 performances at the festival with Category 1 or VIP tickets

• 2 performances in Prague with best available tickets

• All ground transport, guided tours and entrance fees to sites as mentioned in the itinerary, and tipping

• Transfers from Prague or Vienna for the beginning and end of the tour

• Assistance of a Czech speaking tour manager for the duration of the tour

• Commentary and background lectures by Clive Paget, along with post-performance discussion

A $2,000pp deposit is required at the time of booking to hold your place on tour.

A second deposit of $2,000 is due on 09 July 2026.

We will invoice you for final payment for the tour, due on 23 August 2026.

When you book on one of tours, we ask you to accept our terms and conditions. You can read our terms and conditions here.