Czech National Concert Band on tour in Hungary

On the last weekend of August, the Czech National concert band under the direction of its chief conductor Václav Blahunek took part in the festival of wind orchestras in the Hungarian town of Makó. The band has a long-standing cooperation with the private music school in Makó and especially with its director Dr. Jozsef Csikota, and it returns to this beautiful spa town repeatedly.

Apart from our orchestra, ensembles from Hungary, Serbia and Estonia also took part in this year’s festival. the Czech National concert band performed on the main stage with its concert programme consisting mainly of Czech music. The soloist of the concert was xylophone player Klára Černá. The orchestra was led by conductor Václav Blahunek, who was replaced by young conductors Markéta Linhart, Michal Strejček and Lucie Rapčáková towards the end of the programme. These three conductors already lead their orchestras at primary art schools and the opportunity to conduct the National Wind Orchestra was another valuable experience for them.

New chamber ensembles are also being created within the National Wind Orchestra. One of them is a wind quintet led by flutist Markéta Linhart. This ensemble performed at the Hungarian festival in the accompanying programme. It gave a concert at the Hagymatikum Spa and accompanied the mass at the Church of St István.

The orchestra bid farewell to the Hungarian festival with a festive parade through the town and a joint concert of all participating orchestras.

The tour was supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic. The orchestra would also like to thank the Primary Art School in Přelouč for the support during the rehearsals.