Fanfares for Leoš Janáček, with special guest Jakub Hrůša

An evening devoted to the electrifying late music of Leoš Janáček, marking 100 years since the premiere of his jubilant masterpiece, the Sinfonietta.

Conductor Jakub Hrůša, writer and broadcaster Nigel Simeone, and leading Janáček scholar Jiří Zahrádka explore the composer’s extraordinary creative surge in the final decade of his life. From his transformative meeting with Kamila Stösslová in 1917 to the radiant, defiant energy of works like the Sinfonietta, the discussion traces how personal passion and an unmistakably original musical language combined to produce some of the most compelling music of the 20th century.

Interwoven with musical examples and personal reflections, this is above all a celebration of Janáček’s enduring voice – alongside the launch of two new publications: Janáček’s Sinfonietta by Nigel Simeone and Jiří Zahrádka (Boydell, 2026) and Káťa Kabanová and The Cunning Little Vixen: Janáček’s New Lease of Life by Jiří Zahrádka (Host, 2026).

Jakub Hrůša is Music Director of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Chief Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony and Music Director Designate of the Czech Philharmonic (from 2028). Born in Brno, he has been an ardent champion of Czech music around the world. The production of Janáček's Makropulos Case at Covent Garden in 2025 has been nominated for an Olivier Award, and many of his recordings have won international recognition, including the Gramophone Opera Award for Káťa Kabanová at the Salzburg Festival. His complete cycle of Bohuslav Martinů’s symphonies will be released later this year by Deutsche Grammophon.

Nigel Simeone is a writer and broadcaster with a lifelong interest in Janáček. He is the author of several books on the composer including The Janáček Compendium (2019) and he is co-author the standard catalogue of Janáček’s works (1997). He appears regularly on BBC Radio 3 (Record Review, Opera on 3, and the Proms), and has written programme notes for the Royal Opera House, London Symphony Orchestra, Salzburg Festival, Glyndebourne Festival and others.

Jiří Zahrádka is Director of the Janáček Archive in Brno and a musicologist. He is the editor of critical editions of many works by Janáček including the Sinfonietta, Taras Bulba, Káťa Kabanová, The Cunning Little Vixen and The Makropulos Affair, and he is the author of several books on Janáček including acclaimed full-length studies of the operas, most recently Káťa Kabanová and The Cunning Little Vixen.

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Host or Publisher Czech Centre London