22nd International Festival of Advent and Christmas Traditions, Carols and Handicrafts
9th to 13th December 2020 – Ostrava, Frýdek-Místek, Kunčice pod Ondřejníkem, Kozlovice, Ostrava -Mariánské Hory – Czech Republic.
Consonance Festival is held in several places in the Moravian-Silesian Region. This year’s festival motto is: „Far from each other but experiencing together“. It is a spiritual and personal meeting, as allowed by the prevention of the spread of Covid-19 in the Czech Republic.
The multi-genre festival will be inaugurated on Wednesday with the introductory concert in studio I. live on Czech Radio Ostrava and on YouTube. The concert in the Knight Hall of the castle in Frýdek-Místek will take place on Thursday. On Friday, the activities will be transferred back to the studio I. of Czech Radio Ostrava and on YouTube. Saturday is reserved for the folklore program in which carolers will perform with festively tuned bands for homes for the elderly in Ostrava and Frýdek-Místek. The Consonance festival, which is a unique international show of its kind in the Czech Republic, will be decorated with arts and crafts (at least in the form of a virtual Christmas market) and an Advent gala concert held on Sunday in Hukvaldy.
The concerts will be filmed and streamed on YouTube and on Czech Radio. Once it’s processed, the edited recording will be presented in the above-mentioned media and placed in the original version on our website so that a wide range of audiences can experience the concert later.
Modifications of the programme are reserved.
Learn more at www.souzneni-festival.cz
Ostrava, 5 December 2020
Zdeněk Tofel
President and Art Director of the festival
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/souzneni
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/souzneni_festival/
e-mail: tofel.zdenek@post.cz
mobile phone: +420 604245814
ABOUT FESTIVAL
International Festival of Advent and Christmas Traditions, Carols and Handicrafts
The cornerstone of the international festival Consonance was laid in December 1999. Those who were fortunate enough to be with us on St Peter’s Square in Vatican when the Christmas tree was lit, will for ever remember that unrepeatable atmosphere. The renowned Czech soprano Eva Dřízová-Jirušová, accompanied by the folklore ensemble Valašský vojvoda (Wallachian Voivoda), sang for the Pope John Paul II, to whom the stately spruce from a Moravian village had arrived after a long journey as a gift from the Czech Republic. After an initial folklore encounter at the Ostrava Puppet Theatre (1999), the festival was established as a four-day event with a varied program across genres.
Visitors may delight in festive Advent music at many indoor and open-air venues, including some selected churches of our region. The vanishing world of national and foreign folk traditions is shown, highlighting the Christmas customs of neighboring as well as more distant regions. You may admire the work of the best folk craftsmen, listen to spiritual music and songs or well known but also little known Christmas carols, performed by both amateur and professional child and adult musicians. Those who love the specialties of national and international cuisine will enjoy degustations of delicacies such as the so-called royal chocolate, and lovers of fine beverages will appreciate the golden fluid from the Wallachian brewery in Kozlovice as well as a selection of South Moravian wines. We think of you and will hand over gifts to the needy.
We believe that the newly extended festival programme this year will meet or even exceed your expectations. Our anticipated thanks go to our important partners, artists, national and foreign folk craftsmen, and of course to all of you – our guests, spectators and listeners.
All those involved in the preparation of the festival look forward to the forthcoming get-togethers. We wish you peace and plenty of love and success in the year to come.
Zdeněk Tofel, President of the Festival
