Martinů fest 2026 | Jaroslav Svěcený and National Mens Choir

Tradition and Spiritual Depth

Bedřich SMETANA: The Dowry – Song on the Sea – Three Riders – Prayer
Josef Bohuslav FOERSTER: At the Hand of Fate – Wide, Vast, Native Fields – The Ploughman – Behind Me

Folk Inspiration and Contemporary Expression

Bohuslav MARTINŮ:  Ej, Janík, Janík (Johnny Rides Fast) – U tej Bílej Hory (In the Green Forest) – Stavajů (They are Building), selection from Zbojnické písně, H 361 (Brigand Songs, H 361)
Antonín DVOŘÁK: The Fiddler
Leoš JANÁČEK: Ach, vojna, vojna (Oh, War, War) – Láska opravdivá (True Love)
Zdeněk LUKÁŠ: Spring Opens
soloist Jaroslav Svěcený (violin)

National Men’s Choir 
Oldřich Růžička (choirmaster of the Bohuslav Martinů Men’s Choir of Polička)
Václav Hnát, Martin Pekárek (choirmaster of the Smetana Prague Choir)
Jaroslav Svěcený (violin, speaker)

The National Men’s Choir was founded in 2024 as a unique platform uniting leading male choirs from across the Czech Republic. Its origins lie in the exceptional concert held on 2 March 2024 in the Smetana Hall of the Municipal House in Prague, marking the 200th anniversary of Bedřich Smetana’s birth. Today the choir brings together 100 – 110 singers and six conductors, focusing exclusively on the interpretation of major works of Czech choral literature.

The closing concert of the festival presents the spiritual depth of Smetana’s and Foerster’s choral works, the folk‑inspired pieces of Martinů, Dvořák and Janáček, and the contemporary expressiveness of Zdeněk Lukáš. The evening’s special guest is violinist Jaroslav Svěcený, who joins the choir in Lukáš’s Spring Opens, a work that blends virtuoso violin writing with the powerful sound of a male choir.

More information: https://tyluvdumpolicka.cz/martinu-fest/