The Boskovice festival will once again serve as a place for dialogue between the past and the present – a space where the historical backdrop of the town and the Jewish quarter will be filled with contemporary art and current themes. The festival is traditionally open to a wide audience, from fans of alternative culture to families with children.
Music Stages
The music program will be based on a wide range of genres and an emphasis on contemporary expression. „Visitors can look forward to dynamic world music, delicate folk with strong lyrical content, as well as energetic, loud alternative rockers that bet on atmosphere,“ says music dramaturg Antonín Kocábek.
Confirmed bands include OHM SQUARE30, Mucha, Dorota Nvotová & Band (SK), WWW Neurobeat, Nauzea Orchestra, Polish Fish Basket, and Japanese Green Milk from the Planet Orange, P/\ST, Oswald Schneider, Ruce naší Dory or YAMAHA ORIENTAL. The jazz stage will feature MaBaSo (PL/CZ), Oskar Török Trio (PL/CZ) or Matyáš Papp Trio. A blues evening, created in collaboration with the Šumperk festival BluesAlive, will offer legendary acts like Jan Spálený & ASPM as well as newly formed bands such as Bohemian Soul Shakers (USA/CZ) or discoveries from the spring competition Blues Aperitiv. At the festival opening, world music will be presented by the Argentine Tzigan Gipsy Tango Trio. At Palouk near the castle, a stage focused on discovering new music projects will feature SJU (SK), Ministerstvo Obřany, ZVLN, PLOY or Pátí na světě.
Theater and Performance
The festival's theater program will offer a colorful showcase of contemporary theater and performative art. „The festival will connect body, space, and story. It will utilize the unique locations of Boskovice such as the historical gymnasium, the castle grounds, the Jewish quarter, or the parish garden and transform them into places of experience. On all stages, we emphasize movement, action, and interdisciplinarity – whether it is physical improvisational theater, a puppet fairy tale under the open sky, or a site-specific walk,“ states the festival's theater dramaturg, Josef Neudeker.
Visual Program
The visual part of the festival includes exhibition activities and art workshops and will spread across the city. The program will offer exhibitions at the Museum of the Boskovice Region, interventions in public spaces, or an exhibition at the Prostor café in Panský dvůr. A new feature of this year’s edition will be the Performance Hub at the Jewish Community House, where site-specific projects connecting poetry, dance, and visual arts will take place during their creation. The accompanying program will also include meetings with authors and art workshops.
Visitors can look forward to the work of Roman Štětina, a Czech visual and sound artist, who will create a sound installation in public space for the first time as part of the festival. In the synagogue, the work of young Ukrainian artist Viktorie Maščenko will be on display, who operates at the intersection of drawing, painting, photography, graphics, and installation.
Film and Lectures
Film screenings, which traditionally take place at the Panorama cinema and the summer cinema, have been an integral part of the festival since its first editions. „This year we will commemorate the 90th anniversary of Václav Havel's birth, the creative profile will be dedicated to last year's jubilarian, the director, but also actor Karel Smyczek, we will remember last year’s fortieth anniversary of the pilgrimage to Velehrad and as part of the Slovak Film Day we will screen newer and new Slovak films that were mainly produced in co-production with Czech partners,“ summarizes Petr Michálek, the festival's film dramaturg.
Last but not least, this year on the stage of live word there will be lectures, debates, and moderated discussions following the film program. Festival visitors can also look forward to the continuation of the live interview series Ohlasy naživo prepared by the Boskovice internet newspaper Ohlasy. Part of the program will again be dedicated to the Jewish quarter.
The festival joins the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the Polí5 publishing house
This year’s program will include celebrations of the 20th birthday of the Polí5 publishing house, which is one of the important platforms of the Czech independent music scene. Thus, the festival will feature artists who collaborate or have collaborated with the publishing house, such as OHM SQUARE30, B4, Nonsen, Marcel Gidote’s Holy Crab, Cermaque, Ruce naší Dory, PLOY or BearCloud. In addition to band performances, there will also be a discussion with Josef Jindrák, the founder of the publishing house and a photography exhibition by Karel Šuster, who will select from his rich portfolio photos of bands and musicians releasing with Polí5.
Tickets for the 34th edition of the Boskovice festival can be purchased through the GoOut and Smsticket platforms. Children under 12 years accompanied by an adult have free admission to the festival.
