Leoš Janáček (composer)

Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and other Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style.

Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research. While his early musical output was influenced by contemporaries such as Antonín Dvořák, his later, mature works incorporate his earlier studies of national folk music in a modern, highly original synthesis, first evident in the opera Jenůfa, which was premiered in 1904 in Brno. The success of Jenůfa (often called the "Moravian national opera") at Prague in 1916 gave Janáček access to the world's great opera stages. Janáček's later works are his most celebrated.

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Recording of the Week, Simon Rattle conducts Janáček's Sinfonietta and The Cunning Little Vixen

4th September 2020

Simon Rattle conducts the London Symphony Orchestra and a cast including Lucy Crowe and Gerald Finley in an exquisitely characterful performance of Janáček's opera.

Interview, Nicky Spence on Janáček

9th July 2019

The Scottish tenor talks to Katherine about his recent recording of The Diary of One Who Disappeared and Moravian Folk Poetry In Songs, and about his broader relationship with Czech repertoire.

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