The Ondráš ensemble will perform at Petrova. At the Christmas concert, the birth of Jesus is approaching
Cesta světla is the name of the Christmas concert performed by the ONDRÁŠ Military Art Ensemble this December at eight locations throughout the Czech Republic. The highlight will be the Brno concert on Tuesday, December 27, from four o’clock in the afternoon in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Petrová. The concert is a benefit, the proceeds will go to the Military Solidarity Fund.
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The concert performance of Cesta světla in November was also filmed by Czech Television.
| Photo: with the permission of VUS Ondráš
Spectators will be able to donate directly to the funds of the fund, which have been helping professional soldiers and their families for a long time, who have found themselves in a very difficult life situation as a result of their work. At the same time, the concert marks the official launch of the new CD Cesta světla, which was released by Supraphon for Christmas this year.
The Christmas concert The Path of Light through the Voices and Instruments of the Orchestra of Folk Instruments and the Girls’ Choir lets you hear Christmas stories from Czech and Moravian carols in unusual musical arrangements by the well-known composer Jiří Slavík.
The Way of Light is a musical cycle telling the story of the birth of Jesus Christ and folk Christmas. Musically, it is mainly based on well-known Czech and Moravian carols, which in Slavík’s arrangement were given the coat of a folk symphony. This sophisticated, sometimes even polyphonic music is additionally complemented by choral polyphony and solo singing, which together form the overall dramatic course of the entire story. The listener is thus treated to a colorful journey to Christ’s birth, as well as to a human understanding of this miraculous event.
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“Writing The Path of Light was a blessing for me for several months, when I could imagine myself traveling to mythical times and let myself be influenced by a story that, after two millennia, still forms our entire culture and society. Knowing that I am working with material that most people will be familiar with, I tried to find ways to present it in a new light. The key for me was the dramatic development in the lyrics, which I tried to support individually in the musical arrangements as well. My goal was to bring listeners to a new reflection on familiar and experienced songs – what they actually express and what they mean to us. The range of feelings they convey is deep and varied at the same time – whether it is amazement at a miraculous event, through warm motherly love, pure joy or satisfaction of those who are suffering,” revealed Jiří Slavík.
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VUS Ondráš has been collaborating with the well-known multi-instrumentalist and composer Jiří Slavík since 2017. The ensemble is the fastest on his author’s project Mateřština, after which Slavík arranged several other compositions and, above all, created the music for the annual performance kRok za kRok.
“After the successful premiere for the ensemble’s 65th anniversary, the idea of continuing the collaboration, with music for a new Christmas concert, arose already at the beginning of 2020. The mutual trust established over several years led us to approach Jiří Slavík to also become the author of the theme, from which the name itself came. Unfortunately, due to the covid pandemic, the concert became a kind of our prayer child, as we were forced to drag out its preparations for two long years. This year, with great joy, we are finally bringing the Path of Light to our viewers and listeners,” said Lukáš Bednařík, head of the artistic department.
The concert performance of Cesta světla in November was also filmed by Czech Television.