Janaček’s sacred music represents an important part of his artistic output. After the early religious compositions, which were influenced by the reforms of the Cecilian movement (Introitus in festo Ss. Nominis Jesu, Exaudi Deus), and were written when the composer was studying in Prague in the 1870s, Janaček’s ideas for sacred works gradually worked themselves into other areas which were not strictly related to the liturgy. The graceful Hail Mary from 1904 was composed for a concert performance in Luhačovice, the vivid and psychologically sophisticated musical setting of three parts of the Mass ordinarium (Mass in E-flat major from 1908) for soloists, choir and organ was composed by Janáček as an example during his teaching at the Brno Organ School. It is quite surprising that the most famous and most frequently played of Janáček’s sacred works, Our Father (if we omit the Glagolitic Mass), was originally written for the theatre. The musical scene was accompanied by vivid images created according to a cycle of the same name by the Polish artist Józef Męcina-Krzesz. The work received its premiere at Brno’s National Theatre 115 years ago.

Janáček’s sacred music has been enriched by the compositions of one of the most famous Czech composers of the second half of the 20th century, Petr Eben (1929–2007). Prague Te Deum, op. 97 was written shortly after November 1989 as a joyful celebration of new-found freedom.

The concert will include shorter organ compositions by both composers.

Masaryk University Choir was established in 2004 and follows on the long tradition of the university choir. The choir has performed at numerous concerts in the Czech Republic and abroad, and has participated in many Czech and international choir festivals and competitions, where it has won the highest awards (the International Festival of Advent and Christmas Music with the Petr Eben award, the B. Martinů International Festival and Choral Competition, the Montreux Choral Festival 2008, the International Festival of Academic Choirs, etc.). In 2007 and 2010 the ensemble was chosen as Choir of the Year by the Union of Czech Choirs. The choir regularly works with Czech orchestras, performing large oratorios and cantatas (Brno Philharmonic, Olomouc Moravian Philharmonic, Bohuslav Martinů Zlín Philharmonic, Košice State Philharmonic, Pardubice Chamber Choir, etc.). The choir has recently worked on a production of Bohuslav Martinů’s opera The Miracles of Mary at the National Theatre in Brno. The ensemble also regularly records film and incidental music with leading orchestras and soloists, including Tarja Turunen & Mike Terrana.

The conductor and choirmaster Michal Vajda received his musical education at the Religious Conservatory in Kroměříž and at Brno’s Janáček Academy of Performing Arts, where he graduated in sacred music and choral conducting. As a student of Josef Pančík, the long-standing choirmaster of the Janáček Opera Chorus in Brno, in addition to his professional education as a conductor he also gained invaluable knowledge and experience in voice coaching, music direction and composition. As a conductor, choirmaster and performer he has worked with numerous orchestral and vocal ensembles. He regularly collaborates with important conductors, choir leaders, performers, musical groups and producers. He has taken part in many of the top Czech and international music festivals, where he has won important awards. In 2007 the Union of Czech Choirs conferred on him the award of Choirmaster Junior for his exceptional success. Michal Vajda is a long-standing member of the Union of Czech Choirs Musical Commission and is regularly invited onto jury panels for international competitions. He has been the choirmaster for the Masaryk University Choir for more than ten years, and is its founder and musical director.

Ondřej Pivoda