The International Festival of Military Music will once again ring the city after one year. This year, foreign military orchestras will come from Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. They will present their traditional and unusual repertoire referring to their national culture, as well as colourful exhibition performances. This year, for the first time, the festival is also part of the Military History Week programme.
The opening of the music festival will be opened on Friday 26 August on Horní náměstí by a dance and music performance of the Ondráš Military Art Ensemble. This will be followed by a cathedral concert by the Military Music Olomouc in St. Wenceslas Cathedral and a concert by the Central Music of the Czech Army with soloists Martin Chodur and Lucie Silkenová in Horní náměstí.
On Saturday, 27 August, from 10 a.m., when the organizers will officially open the festival on Horní náměstí, visitors can look forward to a series of exhibition performances by foreign orchestras, a joint exhibition performance by the Central Music of the Army of the Czech Republic and the Ondráš Military Art Ensemble, and a joint exhibition performance by the Military Music Olomouc and the Honour Guard of the Army of the Czech Republic. The entire festival programme will be complemented by a performance of the motorcycle platoon of the Military Police Headquarters Olomouc, a demonstration of the equipment of the Ground Forces of the Army of the Czech Republic and a performance of majorettes.
“This year, for the first time ever, the International Festival of Military Music in Olomouc is associated with a completely new concept, which is the Military History Week. The traditionally established event is thus combined with a novelty that refers to the fact that we are the most important military and musical city in the country. I believe that the programme of both events will put Olomouc residents and visitors in a pleasant mood. In short, if soldiers, then today only those with musical instruments,” says Miroslav Žbánek, the Mayor of the Statutory City of Olomouc, referring not only to current events in the world.
After last year’s festival, which was more intimate and only on a national level, this year’s festival will again have international participation. “This is a large-scale event, so we always prepare it carefully and look forward to new musical experiences. This year, for the first time, it will also be possible to see the show programme of our Military Music Olomouc together with the Czech Army Honour Guard, which they presented for the first time with great success in July this year at the International Tattoo in Eksjö, Sweden,” describes the programme Colonel Radek Šíba, Commander of the Garrison Command Prague. “It will also be very interesting to see the performance of the Central Music of the Army of the Czech Republic with the Military Art Ensemble Ondráš, which was the highlight of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Both musical ensembles were invited there on the occasion of the centenary of Czechoslovakia,” adds Colonel Šíba.
The International Festival of Military Music is repeatedly held in Olomouc and Kroměříž, always on the last weekend in August, and this year for the first time it is also linked to the Military History Week event in Olomouc. The main organizers are the Garrison Headquarters in Prague, the Statutory City of Olomouc and the City of Kroměříž.
More information about the XXVI International Festival of Military Music can be found on www.pvpraha.army.cz in the news tab and on the Military History Week website https://tydenvojenskehistorie.olomouc.eu/. Videos from previous editions of the International Festival of Military Music can be found at www.youtube.com
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