“Brno is the closest to my heart and it will be forever. I cannot stand aloof when I see my colleagues from the Philharmonic having to work in inappropriate conditions and the Brno audience are being deprived of music experience.
It is almost as if the hockey team Kometa had to practice on a frozen pond and still had to achieve excellent results. Brno should build the new concert hall in the nearest future, or it will miss the opportunity to become a true music metropolis”
The writer Milan Kundera signed Concert Hall for Brno Declaration from the 8th August, 2014.
“Given that we have a large orchestra, we also need a place where it can perform. Since there is no such place in Brno, it is necessary to build it. Am I not right?”
“Besední dům is a magnificent place, but it is not ideal for Brno Philharmonic, as extensive philharmonic compositions cannot be performed in there. I wish a new concert hall to the Philharmonic, so that they can play in their own space and do not have to seek their shelter in the theatre.”
“One might get the impression that a concert hall belongs to the category of luxury, which is a fallacy. A concert hall is in fact a gym for the soul – and there is no doubt that such a big city as Brno, with such a great music tradition, would amply make use of such a gym.”
“Why should Brno not have its first convenient hall for symphonies in the 21st century?
I consider this questions rather a bad joke, the hall ought to have been here long ago. It would help the orchestra, the audience and possibly the reviewers to write their bon mots. Moreover, Leoš Janáček, one of the greatest composers, and one of those closest to my heart, would beam with pride in heaven and maybe send us a new symphony, or, I don`t know, at least love and blessings for sure!”
“Brno has had Besední dům since 1873. It is beautiful, but too small for the contemporary Philharmonic. A big city of high qualities needs a big, first-rate concert hall.”
“The exquisite sound of Brno Philharmonic has deserved a spacious hall with perfect acoustics for long. We cannot wait to have it.”
“I can remember my father saying in 1946, that Brno would get a concert hall soon after the war. The idea has changed into a dream during the past 70 years. It is the highest time to fulfil the dream now and it seems the dream can be realized now.”
“Brno, as an important centre of art and internationally renowned centre of Leoš Janáček’s music and life urgently needs a modern concert hall, it has been like this as long as anyone can remember. The experience of conductors from all over the world confirm that a symphonic orchestra languishes without a home corresponding with its natural ambitions.
Brno Philharmonic is a body, which, with respect to its remarkable tradition and high quality, deserves such a hall.”
“When Leoš Janáček began to organize symphonic concerts in Brno 140 years ago, he dealt with the question, who would perform them and where.
We have solved at least something since then. We have got an outstanding symphonic orchestra, but as for the concert hall, the situation is the same as in the times of Leoš Janáček.
It is necessary to change that, if Brno wants to rank itself among cultural centres of Central Europe.”
“Loveless generation, which way will you enter the history of agony? Where is the music that would collogue with you? Where are the walls which would embrace that music? These lines are to be found on the third page of the play script of the play Leoš aneb tvá Nejvěrnější (Leoš or Your Most Faithful) staged in Husa na Provázku Theatre in Brno – the city of Leoš Janáček.”
“It is utterly inconceivable that Brno still does not have an appropriate concert hall. With regards to its not only music history, Brno deserves it.”
“Brno Philharmonic works in possibly worst conditions of all orchestras in the Czech Republic. We owe a new hall to the memory of Leoš Janáček, the peak compositions of whom we cannot currently stage anywhere.”
“I wish Brno to have its own concert hall. And I also wish Brno that it does not end up like the construction of tunnel Blanka in Prague.”
“Culture is the right way to go for Brno. We do have things to offer to Brno inhabitants, not least to say to Europeans. We only need to set up appropriate conditions. In my opinion, building a first-rate music hall is one of the fundamental steps. Not only because it expresses our respect to Leoš Janáček, but also because it is an investment in our future.”
