International music festival Dobrsska brana 2024

The International Music Festival Doobrsska brana  is part of the global trend of searching for new connections between traditional, classical and contemporary music, thereby creating a musical event that is unique on the Czech music scene.
The festival is exceptional in that it enables world musicians and Czech audiences to come together in a place, which for many visitors is unconventional, yet has a long tradition, including in the field of music, while being well outside the Czech capital. Proof of the fact that the focus of the festival has been moving in the right direction is the success of the past six years, supported by audience response and reviews bymusic critics, with listeners from the US, Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belarus, the Netherlands, France, Senegal, Argentina, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland and the Czech Republic. This event in southern Bohemia in August has a truly European dimension.
The Dobršská brána festival offers a refreshing insight into the world of contemporary music without dramaturgical compromises or formal classification of performers into genres. In the work they present, they freely switch between genres and combine elements of folk music with jazz and chamber music. The specific dramaturgy of the festival and its motto "Gateway to the world of music" reflects this. Individual concerts of the festival take place at various locations in Dobrš. Chamber concerts are in the Church of the Annunciation, while other performances are in the area of ​​thecastle or in the chapel of Saints John and Paul. Listeners and musicians are thus able to acquaint themselves up close with historical Dobrš and its monuments.
The aim is to present leading European and world players who have not performed in the Czech Republic in recent years, each year focusing a different musical instrument. Well-known Czech and foreign musicians and groups present themselves in compositions that work with improvisation,historical origins, national folk motifs; performances of intonation and general musical engagement. Both ancient and completely contemporary music is heard as it emerges at the moment of the performance.
The focus of the eighth year of the festival this year is the piano. We will hear this instrument in various combinations, including in free improvisation. There will be a variety of jazz in all forms and colors, as well as compositions inpired by national folklore and compositions tailored to specific performers.
 
This year's festival is dedicated to Karel Schwarzenberg, whose patronage of the festival started from its very beginnings. Karel Schwarzenberg died last year at the age of 85.

Program 2024:

Friday August the 16

festival opening 15:30 Main second stage Dobrs Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary

1 Marek Novotný sextet  /CZE/ 16:00 Second stage Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary
2 Pablo Held Trio /DEU/ 19:00 Main stage Dobrs Château
3 Nikol Bóková Trio  /CZE/ 19:15 Second stage Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary
4 Helge Lien Trio /NOR/  21:00 Main stage Dobrs Château

Saturday August the 17

0 exhibition opening  / 11:00 Château_ gallery Co Co
1 Magda Mayas Duo /DEU/ 13:30 Second stage Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary
2 Tomáš Hrubiš Duo /CZE/ 15:00 Second stage Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary / Outdoor stage - Chapel  
3 Ignacy Wiśniewski Duo  /POL/ 16:30 Second stage Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary
4 Aki Rissanen Trio /FIN/ 18:00 Main stage Dobrs Château
5 Benjamin Moussay Solo /FRA/ 19:30 Second stage Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary
6 Nik Bärtsch´s RONIN  /CHE/ 21:00 Main stage Dobrs Château

TICKETS

The Dobrš´s Recovery Association (hereinafter referred to as the Association) is a voluntary civic association whose purpose are educative and cultural activities in relation to Dobrš as an exceptional village location.

Association also raise funds for the projects, expert opinions and related documentation for the reconstruction, operation, repair and maintenance of the castle and fortress area, the other cultural monuments and other buildings and spaces in the village and its intravilan. The basic idea of operating and using this locality is to restore its social function and interconnection of its individual parts in order to create a space for coexistence of people of different interests, age, education and convictions, focusing on artistic activities, meeting, teaching, learning, sharing and alternative culture. This program will be implemented in the sense of the Government’s Architectural Heritage Rescue Program, with an emphasis on the authenticity and unmistakable context of the historical monuments, together with the search for a new current use of the castle area and its surroundings.

The Association has been expanding its operating range in terms of content and location for the second year now.  The Association’s activities are proven throughout years, yet they always bring something new  every time, annually attracting a wide array of famous artists, professional and amateur alike, in many  genres, and now they include a unique music festival whose specific focus (second to none even in the varied offer of music festivals) draws an entirely new type of visitors, musicians and fans to Dobrš in South Bohemia.

The festival project seeks to revive those roots and restore the traditional rural cultural and social customs; as part of the event, the former traditional pub surviving in its original guise is open and accessible, and as the former cultural centre of the community, it regains its purpose while getting a new, contemporary and attractive content, especially for the local citizens who sorely lack a venue for social events at present.The multi-spectrum activities targeting the widest possible audience seek and form the new cultural identity of the rural environment reflecting the needs of contemporary man in the 21st century in the European context.