Programme 2026

Brazilian mandolinist Hamilton de Holanda is one of the most prominent figures in contemporary Brazilian music. He has reinvented the mandolin, transforming this traditional Brazilian instrument into a modern musical voice. Together with his trio, he presents a unique musical project that sensitively connects jazz with the rich tradition of Brazilian musical styles.

The summer evening will bring together live music, dance, a DJ set and the atmosphere of a swing dance party. Singer Géraldine Schnyder will perform with her musical friends, offering a programme built around jazz standards, swing and playfulness.

Géraldine Schnyder comes from Switzerland, where she studied jazz vocals at the academy in Bern. Today, she lives in Brno, teaches at JAMU and works across a wide musical spectrum, from swing and blues to modern jazz, soul-influenced projects and original music. Her voice has many shades – it can be powerful, sensitive and playful, naturally inviting listeners into the story unfolding on stage.

At Jazzmin, she will appear in a quintet made up of musicians connected to the Brno jazz scene. Together, they create a sound based on natural acoustic interplay, improvisation and a strong feel for swing energy.

The programme will also include a dance lesson led by Janča Měchurová from Swing Wings Dance School, followed by a DJ set. The event is open to experienced dancers, beginners and anyone who simply wants to enjoy a summer evening with live music.

Géraldine Schnyder – vocals
Marek Kotača – saxophone
Jan Čarek – guitar
Vlado Micenko – bass
Adam Sikora – drums

Swing Wings Dance School / Janča Měchurová – dance lessons and DJ set

For some listeners, jazz is introverted and chamber music, for which the listener would almost need to have studied musicology to appreciate it. However, many musicians manage to turn such notions upside down. Among them are the members of the Snarky Puppy “family”.

When Michael League founded the group Snarky Puppy at the University of North Texas in 2003, he did so paradoxically because he hadn’t been accepted into any of the official school ensembles at the time. He had no idea then that this originally student project would gradually transform into a five-time Grammy Award winner and one of the most influential instrumental bands of our time. From the beginning, the group avoided being pigeonholed. League himself describes their sound as a street mongrel, in which jazz sophistication naturally blends with the energy of funk, rock, and soul. However, the path to success was not immediate; the musicians spent the first decade endlessly traveling in beat-up vans and playing for a handful of people in remote clubs.

A crucial turning point came with the 2010 album Tell Your Friends, when the band fully developed its unique recording method. Instead of isolated studios, Snarky Puppy prefers recording directly in front of a live audience, who sit in the studio with headphones, creating the unrepeatable atmosphere of a “silent concert” that combines the precision of a recording studio with the energy of a live performance.

Today, Snarky Puppy is more of an extended family than a closed band. Approximately forty musicians have passed through the collective nicknamed “The Fam” over twenty years, rotating in the lineup much like a hockey team. The group also has strong ties to the Czech Republic. Michael League studied with Czech pianist Jiří Levíček, whom he still speaks of today as a great inspiration in bridging genres. A curiosity is that League dreamed of having specific vintage Slingerland drums for his Spanish studio, which after a long search throughout Europe, he discovered and purchased in a music store in Opava.

The latest chapter in the Snarky Puppy‘s story is the album Somni, released in November 2025. On this ambitious project, the band joined forces with the fifty-member Metropole Orkest. The compositions, inspired by League’s life in Spain, utilize up to four drummers simultaneously and create a soundscape capable of transporting listeners beyond reality. This will undoubtedly be the case at their concert as part of JazzFestBrno.

The founder and driving force behind Helicopets is Polish guitarist and composer Adam Baran, one of the most exciting young musicians on today’s Polish scene, working at the intersection of jazz, improvised and alternative music.

Baran grew up listening to artists such as Björk, Radiohead and The White Stripes. He later graduated from the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław and the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, where his artistic direction was profoundly shaped by musicians such as John Coltrane, Tomasz Stańko and Bill Frisell. It was during this period that he fully embraced improvised music, which remains at the core of his work today.

With Helicopets, he experiments with improvisation, electronics and unusual arrangements combining guitar, bass guitar, bass clarinet, percussion and electronic instruments. In addition, he collaborates with alternative bands Patrick the Pan and Swiernalis, as well as singer Alicja Szemplińska. Both in the studio and on stage, he has worked with legendary jazz musician Michał Urbaniak, blues virtuoso Roman Puchowski and many other prominent figures of the Polish music scene.

Baran is also known for his intensive concert activity. He has performed with his projects both in clubs and at major European festivals, including Sziget and Off Festival. In 2024, the renowned Norwegian trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær selected Helicopets as a finalist of the Jazz Juniors Competition, where the band received a special award. This subsequently led to a European tour in 2025.

Adam Baran – guitar
Józef Biegański – drums, electronics
Roman Chraniuk – bass guitar
Szymon Białorucki – trombone

The contemporary Chicago jazz scene is widely regarded as one of the most vibrant and progressive jazz hubs in the world today. It is from this fertile environment that the remarkable Isaiah Collier emerged – a multi-talented saxophonist, composer, educator, and activist.

Collier has built his reputation on his ability to organically connect a deep reverence for the jazz tradition with a spirit of boundless innovation. His artistic range is remarkable, as demonstrated both through his own visionary projects and through collaborations with some of the most distinctive figures in contemporary music, including Angel Bat Dawid and her ensemble Brotherhood, avant-garde trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith III, bassist Junius Paul, and even hip-hop star Chance the Rapper.

A key milestone in Collier’s current artistic trajectory is the ambitious concert program Collier Plays Coltrane, created in anticipation of the upcoming centennial celebrations of the birth of John Coltrane, one of the most important and influential musicians of the twentieth century. Needless to say, Collier’s approach is far removed from the mere mechanical reproduction of iconic compositions. Instead, he engages with Coltrane’s legacy through a contemporary lens.

Collier had already demonstrated this profound dialogue with history in 2021 on the universally acclaimed album Cosmic Transitions, recorded with his ensemble. The album received the highest possible rating – five stars – from the prestigious magazine DownBeat and collected numerous Album of the Year awards. Its success was undoubtedly enhanced by the extraordinary story behind its creation. The recording sessions took place at the legendary Rudy Van Gelder Studio, symbolically on Coltrane’s birthday. Furthermore, Collier’s ensemble made use of part of the original analogue equipment on which Coltrane recorded his groundbreaking spiritual masterpiece A Love Supreme in the 1960s.

In the current concert project Collier Plays Coltrane, this historical and spiritual lineage is brought directly to the stage. Collier’s saxophone playing carries the same urgency, rawness, and profound inner spirituality that once defined Coltrane himself, yet filtered through the energy and perspective of a twenty-eight-year-old artist responding to the realities of the present day.

However, Isaiah Collier’s performance will be far from the end of this exceptional evening. Immediately following the main concert program, an open jam session will take place, giving every musician who brings an instrument the opportunity to participate. The session will be opened by leading Czech saxophonist Ondřej Štveráček, one of the foremost figures of the Czech jazz scene and a highly symbolic choice for the role. Štveráček has long been known for the profound influence that John Coltrane’s music has had on his artistic development. While his technically brilliant and energetic playing clearly echoes elements of Coltrane’s aesthetic, he has transformed those influences into a completely original and distinctive musical language of his own.

Cellist and vocalist Dorota Barová, a two-time nominee for the 2025 Anděl Awards, will appear in an exclusive lineup to present her most intimate album, accompanied by guest musicians you rarely see sharing the same stage.

The cornerstone of the concert program is Barová’s latest studio release, Píseň pro Mi (A Song for Mi). The album emerged as a deeply personal project in which she set to music the texts of her close friend, the late poet Michaela Vejnarová. The result is a fragile, almost dreamlike atmosphere that resists simple genre classification.

The album’s uniqueness is further confirmed by Barová’s two Anděl Award nominations—in the seemingly paradoxical yet fitting categories of Jazz and Folk. This genre fluidity is characteristic of her work: her music forms a bridge between tradition, improvisation, and pure songwriting. Having performed in several alternative rock bands, toured internationally with the distinctive cello duo Tara Fuki, worked with the leading Czech jazz ensemble Vertigo, and supported pop icon Aneta Langerová as part of her string section, Barová brings a wealth of experience that allows her to distill the deepest essence of her musical expression into her own project.

One of the evening’s greatest attractions is the lineup itself. Alongside the core trio—phenomenal guitarist Míra Chyška and versatile bassist Miloš Klápště—special guests will join the stage, making for a truly rare live collaboration. The sonic palette will be expanded by cellist Alžběta Vlčková and, notably, early music specialist Jan Krejča on theorbo. The inclusion of this baroque instrument, with its long neck and distinctive timbre, adds an unexpected richness of color to Barová’s music.

The Water Reservoirs at Žlutý kopec are renowned for their unique acoustics, demanding exceptional focus and sensitivity to space. For Dorota Barová, whose performance is built on vocal nuance and dynamic expression, this represents the ideal artistic challenge. The audience will not remain passive observers—they will become part of an immersive experience, with the music surrounding them from all sides.

Singer Dan Bárta and double bassist Robert Balzar rarely perform together in the stripped-down format of a duo, and their collaboration—set within an architectural gem listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site—promises a truly unique and unrepeatable event.

When the names Dan Bárta and Robert Balzar are mentioned, most fans immediately recall Bárta’s rock energy with Alice, his funk explorations with J.A.R., and the distinctive chamber pop of Illustratosphere, as well as his long-standing collaboration with the Robert Balzar Trio. The duo format with its leader, however, is something entirely different—it is music in its most exposed form, where there is no room for error and where every tone, breath, and movement of a finger on the double bass fingerboard carries absolute weight.

This formation appears on stage only rarely. While the full trio creates, as heard on albums such as Theyories and Jedním dechem, a tight and rhythmically rich sound, the duo setting transforms the music into an intimate conversation. It is a dialogue between one of Europe’s finest jazz double bassists and a vocalist whose voice can replace an entire orchestra. For JazzFestBrno audiences, this collaboration offers a rare opportunity to experience both artists in their purest form.

Although the exact setlist remains a mystery until the very last moment—as befits true jazz improvisers—the program will likely draw from their rich shared repertoire. Audiences can look forward to original interpretations of jazz standards, as well as pop and rock classics, alongside original compositions that have matured over the years.

The choice of venue is no coincidence. Villa Tugendhat, an icon of functionalist architecture, is renowned for its purity, spatial design, and refined materials. The music of the Bárta & Balzar duo can be described in much the same way—modern, structurally precise, yet deeply human and organic. The villa’s glass walls, seamlessly connecting interior and garden, will provide a setting for jazz improvisation that no conventional concert hall could offer.

Sachal Vasandani is widely regarded as one of the most distinctive jazz vocalists of his generation. In his hands, the jazz tradition comes alive in a fresh, soulful guise, appealing not only to devoted jazz listeners but also to fans of contemporary songwriting.

Vasandani possesses a rare gift: he can step in front of a roaring big band with unwavering swing confidence, only to strip everything down moments later and reveal the deepest emotions in a classic ballad. This vulnerability, combined with his ability to improvise fluidly across melodic lines and rhythmic structures, has made him a sought-after collaborator for some of the world’s leading artists. Over the course of his career, he has shared the stage with icons such as Wynton Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin, Bill Charlap, and Milton Nascimento.

Vasandani arrives in Brno in peak creative form, supported by his latest album Best Life Now. To give his stories of modern love—with all their light and shadow—the right pulse, he invited drummer, visionary, and master of groove Nate Smith to produce the album. Smith, who performed at JazzFestBrno last year, helped shape a sound in which Vasandani’s captivating voice is surrounded by inventive beats and memorable melodies. It is jazz infused with soul and funk, yet firmly rooted in the depth of the genre.

Beyond his performing career, Vasandani is also recognized as one of today’s leading jazz educators and advocates of the genre. His workshops and masterclasses around the world are known for combining rigorous technical foundations with an open, creative spirit. This analytical approach to music is reflected in his own compositions and lyrics, making his performances both technically refined and deeply human.

At JazzFestBrno, technical precision will meet raw emotion. Sachal Vasandani proves that jazz improvisation can be a living, breathing language—one capable of telling stories of our everyday joys and struggles, just as it has in the work of the greatest vocalists in jazz history and today.

Although two prominent figures of the contemporary Czech jazz scene—vocalist Marta Kloučková and guitarist David Dorůžka—have repeatedly shared stages and recording studios, for instance within Kloučková’s established quintet, their current project marks a significant turning point.

Their joint album How Little We Dream is their debut in the intimate setting of a jazz duo. The choice of such a stripped-down format was no coincidence; it arose from both artists’ natural desire for maximum creative freedom and deep musical connection. For Marta Kloučková, performing as a duo with David Dorůžka represents an exceptionally free approach to singing, opening up space for vocal experimentation as well as expressive interpretations distinct from those she employs in larger ensembles. Unlike her original work with a band, here she can fully focus on interpreting songs and lyrics by other authors, ranging from simple, song-like forms to dramatically intense expressions. David Dorůžka, an internationally acclaimed guitarist with a refined sense for tone color, likewise regards the duo format as one of his favorite artistic disciplines, seeing it as the purest form of musical dialogue.

The repertoire for this album brings together compositions that cross genres and decades, spanning the entire last century of music. As a result, both the concert program and the album itself are remarkably diverse and bold. Audiences can expect a journey to interwar standards from the late 1920s, as well as visits to iconic songwriters such as Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Paul Simon. A surprising and refreshing moment comes with the inclusion of the contemporary pop hit Wildflower by Billie Eilish (2025), demonstrating that Kloučková & Dorůžka recognize no artificial boundaries in music. Alongside these names, their repertoire also features works by jazz greats such as Thelonious Monk and Wayne Shorter, as well as the psychedelic legacy of Grace Slick from Jefferson Airplane.

Adding to the sense of a truly special occasion, the concert will also feature the ceremonial launch of the album How Little We Dream.

A modern jazz trio bringing together three distinctive voices from today’s music scene. Here, Louis Cole joins forces with saxophonist and composer David Binney and bassist Pera Krstajic. The result is a project that combines contemporary jazz improvisation with strong rhythmic drive, a modern sound and an energy that reaches far beyond the boundaries of traditional jazz.

Cole is one of the most distinctive musicians of his generation. A Grammy Award winner, he has made a name for himself not only as an exceptional drummer, but also as a composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist with a truly unique musical language. He often cites Tony Williams as a major influence, while also drawing inspiration from artists such as Flying Lotus. He likewise admires Nate Wood for his ability to move effortlessly between instruments – hardly a coincidence, considering that Cole himself is equally adept on drums, keyboards, guitar and bass, and feels just as at home in a bedroom recording studio as on a concert stage.

Stories of his work ethic have become legendary, and one thing is beyond doubt: music is simply his life. His career path is remarkable in that he built his audience without the backing of major media outlets or extensive label campaigns. Before his international breakthrough, he had already released six entirely self-written, self-produced albums, gradually shaping the distinctive artistic voice for which he is now known. He gained worldwide attention through his original work as well as the Grammy-nominated album Quality Over Opinion. Today, he enjoys cult status not only among bedroom producers but also among drummers, who are inspired by his ultra-precise style shaped in part by electronic music and video game soundtracks.

As both musician and producer, Cole’s résumé spans an astonishing range of genres – from the avant-pop world of KNOWER through jazz-fusion collaborations with bassist Thundercat, pianist Brad Mehldau and, indeed, David Binney, to his own experimental musical universes. He is the very definition of a modern musician: someone who does not complain about the shortcomings of the music industry, but instead takes matters into his own hands and finds every possible way to bring his music directly to listeners.

David Binney is one of the most important voices in modern jazz composition of the past several decades. Over the course of his career, he has released more than thirty albums as a leader and has appeared on hundreds of recordings as both a studio and touring musician. His collaborators include artists as diverse as Gil Evans, Norah Jones, Chris Potter, Aretha Franklin, Jamiroquai and Maceo Parker. He also played a significant role on David Bowie’s critically acclaimed final studio album Blackstar. The magazine JazzTimes has described him as one of the musicians who helped shape the alternative jazz scene of recent decades.

The trio’s third member is bassist Pera Krstajic, who provides a strong rhythmic and harmonic foundation while bridging Binney’s compositional vision and Cole’s seemingly endless energy. It is precisely the contrast between these three personalities that gives Action Trio its unique character.

The trio’s repertoire combines improvisational structures with modern production, strong melodies and an open-minded approach to contemporary music. Their JazzFestBrno performance will offer a meeting with truly contemporary instrumental music in the hands of three exceptionally creative and technically accomplished musicians.

David Binney – alto saxophone
Pera Krstajic – bass guitar
Louis Cole – drums

Two things are absolutely essential when it comes to Tigran Hamasyan. He has managed to infuse jazz with a wholly distinctive musical language shaped by his Armenian roots—and he achieved this at a remarkably young age.

His journey to the piano began at the age of three, and by six he was already studying music systematically. Although he was initially drawn to the raw energy of metal guitar, he fully devoted himself to jazz at the age of nine. Alongside exploring complex harmonies and structures, he focused primarily on improvisation. As a teenager, he realized that his Armenian heritage was just as vital a source of inspiration as recordings by American jazz legends, and he began weaving traditional folk elements into his own compositions. He continued developing this artistic direction after moving to the United States.

Hamasyan’s early career is marked by a series of achievements that brought international attention to this exceptional artist from Gyumri, Armenia. At sixteen, he won both the Jazz à Juan Révélations competition in France and the Montreux Jazz Festival’s Critics’ Prize. At nineteen, he triumphed at the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute Competition in Los Angeles. By that time, he had already released his debut album World Passion. Since then, he has recorded ten studio albums, most of which explore the intersection of jazz and Armenian folk music, occasionally venturing into progressive rock. After working with major labels such as Verve and ECM, he found a home at the innovative Nonesuch label. It was there that he released StandArt, an album in which he focused for the first time on interpreting American jazz standards by composers such as Jerome Kern and Charlie Parker. His subsequent album The Bird of a Thousand Voices marked a return to his roots, presented as a conceptual double album inspired by an Armenian folk tale.

On his latest release Manifeste, Hamasyan moves toward a denser sound at the crossroads of jazz and progressive rock, incorporating elements such as metal-influenced guitar. The ambitious project was developed over two years in studios around the world, resulting in a rich and complex production. Despite its sonic intensity, the album remains deeply rooted in his heritage, as evidenced by the use of traditional Armenian instruments and collaborations with the Yerevan State Chamber Choir. Conceived as an introspective exploration of identity, the record brings together multiple musical worlds into one vibrant and surprising whole. Experiencing this music live promises to be a truly remarkable event.

The story of Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodriguez resembles a modern musical fairy tale in which uncompromising classical discipline collides with the untamed energy of Havana’s streets and a life-changing intervention from a legend.

Born into a musical family in Havana, Alfredo Rodriguez was given both an excellent foundation and a demanding musical education at prestigious Cuban conservatories. There, he spent years refining his technique through the works of Bach, Chopin, and Rachmaninoff. It was precisely this strict European classical background, combined with the ever-present Afro-Cuban rhythms he absorbed outside the classroom walls, that shaped his utterly distinctive musical voice.

The turning point of his life came in 2006 at the Montreux Jazz Festival, where the young pianist caught the attention of legendary producer Quincy Jones. Jones was so impressed by Rodriguez’s talent that he immediately decided to take him under his wing. For Rodriguez, this meant a dramatic life change: in 2009 he emigrated to the United States, leaving behind his family and entire background in Cuba. Under Jones’s guidance, he released his debut album Sounds of Space, which immediately established him on the global jazz scene.

Rodriguez quickly proved himself to be a visionary unwilling to be confined to the label of a “Latin jazz pianist.” His music blends traditional Cuban genres such as son and mambo with modern jazz, avant-garde influences, and classical music. His later albums, including the Grammy-nominated The Invasion Parade, only confirmed this artistic direction.

Today, Alfredo Rodriguez is an internationally sought-after concert artist renowned for his electrifying live performances, during which he can transform the piano into an entire rhythmic ensemble. He performs like a force of nature—his playing is percussive, explosive, and yet technically flawless.

The Polish jazz group Blu/Bry is a compelling example of the progressive spirit of today’s European jazz scene. This finely balanced instrumental quintet was one of the standout discoveries of the Central European Jazz Showcase held in Brno at 2025.

The young musicians began shaping their shared musical vision in 2019 and have officially performed under the name Blu/Bry since 2021. The band’s sound is characterized by openness and a collective approach in which individual virtuosity serves the whole. Their music remains rooted in modern European jazz while naturally weaving in elements of classical music, subtle folk inspirations, and delicate electronic textures. The result is music full of twists, layered motifs, and unexpected atmospheres, where compositions flow seamlessly from lyrical passages into dense grooves.

The uniqueness of the band is further underscored by the fact that its members gained experience at prestigious institutions such as Berklee College of Music in Boston, the Danish National Academy of Music, and the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. Their exceptional talent is reflected in the lightning-fast start of their career, marked by triumphs at major Polish and international competitions. Blu/Bry received Grand Prix awards at prestigious festivals including Jazz nad Odrą, Jazz Juniors, Bielska Zadymka Jazzowa, and the aforementioned Central European Jazz Showcase in Brno. Their outstanding position on the scene was definitively confirmed by their victory in the prestigious Jazz Forum poll (Jazz Top 2024), where they were named “New Hope of the Year.”

The meeting of three distinctive personalities and multi-instrumentalists of the Czech music scene promises a concert experience that completely transcends conventional genre boundaries. All three artists move effortlessly across an exceptionally broad stylistic spectrum while also being inventive composers in their own right.

What unites them most profoundly is boundless playfulness, creative courage, and the joy of music coming into existence directly before the audience’s eyes and ears. On stage, they are not merely performers, but equal partners in a dialogue that connects centuries of musical history with wit and ease.

Audiences can look forward to a journey through time and musical styles. With complete naturalness, the music moves from the world of Baroque and the radiant clarity of Classicism into the passionate currents of jazz, eventually dissolving into liberating free improvisation. Each of the three protagonists brings a unique contribution to the ensemble. The legendary Jiří Stivín, master of flutes and saxophones, has for decades embodied absolute musical freedom and the ability to connect early music with modern jazz. Violinist Martin Zbrožek contributes not only virtuosity, but also a distinctive sense of dramaturgy, humor, and theatrical shorthand, while double bassist Jiří Slavík, a representative of the younger generation with international acclaim, provides a firm yet remarkably flexible rhythmic and harmonic foundation.

The entirely informal and joyful atmosphere radiating from the stage invites audiences into immediate connection with the performers. This trio’s concert is not a rigid academic affair, but a living organism in which the boundary between stage and audience gradually disappears. Listeners become witnesses to a unique musical alchemy where precise technique serves pure joy in playing and genuine human connection.

Alfredo Rodríguez

Alfredo Rodríguez – piano
Swaéli Mbappé – bass guitar
Michael Olivera – drums

Blu/Bry

Jan Kusz – tenor saxophone
Tomasz Kusz – trumpet
Jakub Letkiewicz – piano
Franciszek Wicke – bass
Stanisław Banyś – drums

A great deal can fit under the term nu jazz, and it is sometimes misused for musical projects that are not particularly inventive. The kind created by Alfa Mist, however, is the exact opposite. His music is the voice and pulse of these days, weeks, and months.

London-based producer, pianist, and composer Alfa Mist is one of the most distinctive figures on the contemporary British nu-jazz scene, and his work perfectly embodies the way modern urban culture can connect with a deep musicianship tradition. His musical beginnings were shaped by hip hop, dark melancholic beats, and a fascination with sampling. It was his desire to understand in detail the complex harmonic structures of the pieces he was cutting up and sampling for his early tracks that eventually led him to the piano. From an original producer, he became a visionary composer-performer who found absolute creative freedom in jazz.

Although his compositions still ride on uncompromising hip-hop grooves, the main driving force and emotional core of Alfa Mist’s music is pure jazz improvisation. His breakthrough recordings, such as his debut Antiphon (2017) and the critically acclaimed Variables (2023), are built on rich, often almost cinematic and melancholic harmonic progressions. His playing on piano and Fender Rhodes electric piano clearly reveals echoes of modal jazz and the influence of legends such as Miles Davis from his electric period or McCoy Tyner. Alfa Mist does not build his compositions as fixed hip-hop loops, but as living organisms. He surrounds himself with outstanding instrumentalists from the London scene, giving them enormous space for expression on stage. With him, the real music is born from immediate dialogue between musicians, from spontaneity and genuine interaction, much as it was in jazz almost a hundred years ago.

For the JazzFestBrno festival audience, Alfa Mist’s concert represents an ideal bridge between the tradition and the future of the genre. Lovers of classic modern jazz will appreciate the exceptional instrumental maturity, sophisticated work with tension and release, and the authentic character of a club jam session. Younger audiences, meanwhile, will be swept up by the hypnotic rhythmic foundation and contemporary urban aesthetic. Alfa Mist comes to Brno to prove that jazz is not a preserved genre for nostalgics, but a wild, constantly evolving language of today’s world.

There are musicians who appeal mainly to fans of narrowly defined genres, with little reach beyond them. And then there are Punch Brothers and a small handful of others whose music leaves virtually everyone wide-eyed with admiration, regardless of their musical background.

The American band Punch Brothers, led by virtuoso mandolinist Chris Thile—who dazzled audiences at Besední dům with his solo recital in 2022—returns to the Czech Republic after several years for an exclusive two-night engagement in Brno. Widely regarded as one of the finest contemporary acoustic ensembles in the world, the group is celebrating its twentieth anniversary while also presenting a brand-new instrumental album.

Punch Brothers were formed in 2006 at the initiative of Chris Thile, who, following the success of his previous band Nickel Creek, sought a space for more ambitious genre-crossing experimentation. Since the beginning, the group has resisted simple classification as a bluegrass band. Although the instrumentation—mandolin, guitar (Chris Eldridge), banjo (Noam Pikelny), double bass (Paul Kowert), and fiddle (now played by Brittany Haas)—resembles a traditional bluegrass lineup, their musical language draws equally from classical composition, jazz improvisation, and indie-rock energy.

London’s The Times described Punch Brothers as “brilliant, daring, original and, above all, entertaining.” It is precisely this combination of technical mastery and audience appeal that has made the band a cult phenomenon around the globe. Their discography, including albums such as Antifogmatic (2010) and the Grammy-winning All Ashore (2018), traces the evolution of musicians capable of referencing Johann Sebastian Bach one moment and launching into a furious jam evocative of an acoustic version of Radiohead the next.

The upcoming concerts in Brno will also be special because Czech audiences will see the band’s new lineup for the first time. Longtime fiddler Gabe Witcher was replaced in 2023 by Brittany Haas, whose playing brings fresh energy and dynamics to the group. Together with her, Punch Brothers recorded their seventh studio album, The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers, for the prestigious Nonesuch Records label. The album marks an important milestone for the band—it is their first entirely instrumental release. It features eight new original compositions and three unique arrangements of traditional songs. Brno audiences will therefore have a rare opportunity to hear this new material among the very first in the world.