What: The University of North Texas College of Music hosts the third International Festival of Czech Music. The program includes an academic conference, concerts, multimedia performances and lectures open to the public. For a full list of events visit https://czech.music.unt.edu

When: Nov. 27 (Tuesday) – Dec. 1 (Saturday)

Where: For conference, performance and lecture times/locations on the UNT campus visit https://czech.music.unt.edu/.  A post-festival tour of five Texas-Czech communities featuring scenes from Leoš Janáček's Příhody lišky Bystroušky (The Cunning Little Vixen) will take place Dec. 2 (Sunday) – Dec. 8 (Saturday). For a complete list of locations and ticket information visit https://czech.music.unt.edu/tour.

Cost: Events are free of charge unless noted:  https://czech.music.unt.edu/content/major-performances

Parking: For the most up-to-date information on directions to the College of Music and the Murchison Performing Arts Center, construction, and parking, please click here.

Background: The University of North Texas College of Music hosts its third International Festival of Czech Music. This year, the festival helps commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the establishment of Czechoslovakia following the end of World War I. The keynote work of the festival is the Leoš Janáček opera Příhody lišky Bystroušky (The Cunning Little Vixen) directed by Jonathan Eaton, The Margot and Bill Winspear Chair in Opera Studies. The production features UNT opera singers and orchestra under the direction of Maestro David Itkin and includes the talents of children from the Dallas Czech School who portray the opera’s little foxes.

Other festival performance highlights include a production of Vít Zouhar’s “Coronide: A Serious (and yet delightfully comic) Opera about Love and Unverified Information,” the Dvořák “Piano Concerto” featuring internationally renowned Czech pianist Sára Medková, and the multimedia performance “Tastes: A Sound and Video Performance Recalling the Smells and Tastes of the Tea Ceremony in Shanghai.”

The conference will feature a day of composition and multimedia sessions featuring speakers and discussion about topics such as: Adaptive sound design in video games, game programming research and education at the Laboratory for Recreational Computing, and “The Sounds in the Machine: ‘Metroid’s’ Cybernetic Soundscape.” A second day of sessions will focus on general academic and music topics including the conference’s keynote speakers: Jaroslav Miller, rector of Palacký University, who will discuss “The Events of 1918 and the Formation of Czechoslovakia;” and Jaroslav Křivánek, pastor of the Hussite Church, who will present “The Formation of Czechoslovak Hussite Church after 1918.”

The UNT International Festival of Czech Music is co-sponsored by the Janáček Academy of Music and Palacký University Olomouc.

About the UNT College of Music

The College of Music is one of the nation’s largest and most respected comprehensive music schools. It offers fully accredited degrees from the bachelor to doctoral levels and is home to the world’s first jazz studies degree program. Faculty include internationally acclaimed artists and scholars in composition, conducting, ethnomusicology, music education, music entrepreneurship, music history, music theory, performance and performance and performing arts health. The college presents more than 1,100 concerts and recitals annually. UNT music alumni can be found around the globe in impressive, award-winning careers across a wide-range of music professions. Visit the College of Music online calendar at http://music.unt.edu/calendar and connect with the College of Music on Facebook at Facebook.com/UNTCollegeofMusic, and on Twitter at @UNTCoM