The festival will open with a concert that brings together two major anniversaries and two extraordinary musical worlds. On Monday, 1 June 2026, the Antonín Dvořák Theatre in Ostrava will resound with works by Dmitri Shostakovich and Leoš Janáček, performed by the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK under the baton of Tomáš Netopil. The solo part in Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 will be performed by Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrández, one of the brightest stars of today’s classical music scene.

The opening concert of this year’s edition pays tribute to two important anniversaries:
120 years since the birth of Dmitri Shostakovich, a composer whose music captured both the dramas of the 20th century and the subtlest shades of the human inner world; and
100 years since the premiere of Janáček’s Sinfonietta, a work that has become a symbol of Czech musical modernism.

The evening will begin with Shostakovich’s Festive Overture, Op. 96 — sparkling, energetic, and full of humour. The composer is said to have written it in just three days, in a particularly good mood that found its way into every bar of the score. This will be followed by the Cello Concerto No. 1, a work in which veiled irony, sarcasm, and searing tension merge into a powerful and deeply personal statement.

The concert will conclude with Janáček’s Sinfonietta, one of the most iconic works in Czech music. Originally conceived as a set of short Sokol fanfares, the piece grew — through the composer’s inventiveness and energy — into a monumental symphonic work. Since its premiere in 1926, the opening brass fanfares have captivated generations of listeners with their grandeur, pride, and thrilling sound. Janáček dedicated the work to the young Czechoslovak state and to his beloved city of Brno.