Olomoucký kraj

Olomouc District

Olomouc

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Czech Republic

Olomouc is a city with a thousand year tradition of spiritual and musical life. The Czech prince Vratislav founded a bishopric in Olomouc as early as in 1063. The Olomouc diocese was elevated to archdiocese in 1777. Highly developed and lively musical activity of the past concentrated around the metropolitan chapter and brought prominent musicians not only to Olomouc but to the whole region. Outstanding composers and instrumentalists dedicated their lives to development and enrichment of its culture. The prominent renaissance polyphonist Jacobus Gallus was the choir master at St. Wenceslas cathedral, the Austrian composer and violinist Heinrich Ignaz Biber, and the Czech baroq composer Pavel Josef Vejvanovský lived and worked at the nearby Archbishop’s castle in Kroměříž. In 1767, W. A. Mozart, aged 11, visited Olomouc and allegedly composed his so called Olomouc symphony there. Other eminent composers left their imprint: Antonín Dvořák worked with the Žerotín choir and dedicated his largest oratorio St. Ludmila to them and Gustav Mahler conducted the orchestra of the German theatre in Olomouc. Ludwig van Beethoven dedicated his glorious Missa solemnis to the Archduke Rudolph of Hapsburg on the occasion of his inauguration as the archbishop of Olomouc and Leoš Janáček dedicated his Glagolitic Mass to the archbishop Prečan. Olomouc, the city in the heart of Moravia, with its rich spiritual and musical tradition, a myriad of marvels of both sacral and secular architecture, is predestined to host a sacred music festival.

 The Autumn Festival of Sacred Music was founded in 1994 and over the twenty-six years of its existence has become a major cultural event in Olomouc. Under the auspices of the archbishop of Olomouc and Moravian metropolitan Msgre Jan Graubner the Festival is organised by MUSICA VIVA in co-operation with the City of Olomouc, the Regional Authority of the Olomouc Region and the Czech Ministry of Culture. The prominent Czech conductor Stanislav Macura was the Festival’s co-founder and over a period of fifteen years served as its artistic director and conductor significantly influencing the Festival’s unique character. The dramaturgy draws upon the immensely rich heritage of brilliant composers of all nations without ignoring contemporary modern sacred music and observes ecumenical principles. The Festival has been recognised for the outstanding artistic quality of guest soloists and internationally renowned quality of vocal and instrumental ensembles. Radio recordings were made from the Festival concerts by Czech Radio, Radio Niederoesterreich (ORF), Slovak Radio and Polish Radio; concerts were broadcasted across Europe via international radio network of EBU. Twenty-five concerts were recorded and broadcasted in co-operation with Czech Television and TV Noe.

The founder of the Festival is the artistic agency ARS VIVA. From 2009 the Festival is organised by the civic society MUSICA VIVA in co-operation with the founding Agency.

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