Come and celebrate our 10th anniversary with us!

Dear fans of classical music,

We are pleased to invite you to the 10th anniversary year of the Lednice-Valtice Music Festival, which will take place in 2025. We have decided to dedicate this special year to connecting American music and artists with the history and beauty of our region.

The Lednice-Valtice area is full of fascinating stories and connections. At times when a completely new scenery was growing up here, this region became a centre of cultural and natural experimentation. These days Lednice-Valtice area became part of the so-called painting and landscape composition, unprecedented anywhere else in the world until then, with massive use of North American trees and plants. This unique concept, which combined natural beauty with artistic visions, still fascinates visitors from all over the world.

The entire festival programme will be designed in such way that instead of importing trees and seeds from America – as the Liechtenstein gardener Joseph van der Schot did – we will bring top American artists and music by composers with ties to this country. The unique venues of the palaces and salets will be resounded with compositions by Bernstein, Korngold, Copland, Barber, Williams and many others.

When Antonín Dvořák composed his Symphony no. 9 “From the New World”, Johann II, Prince of Liechtenstein was preparing the landscaping of the Valtice Garden and courtyard. Dvořák’s symphony, inspired by his stay in America, brings a unique transatlantic dialogue to the festival’s programme, and we are delighted that the Slovak Philharmonic will be performing this essential symphony by a composer who spent several years of his life in the USA. We are pleased that the orchestra will grace our anniversary and will make its premiere at LVMF.

Amongst the people we will introduce are Bauer brothers, illustrators and natives of Valtice, whose talent was discovered by the botanist and eminent physician Norbertus Adamus Boccius. He was head of the local Convent of the Merciful Brethren and significantly contributed to the higher level of medicine in Valtice. Between 1776–1804, Bauer brothers and Boccius jointly created a beautifully illustrated herbarium of 14 volumes, which captures 2748 authentic watercolour (almost three-dimensional) images of plants imported from all over the world, including America and those still found in Valtice and Lednice. Years later, this unique world work was donated to the Princely House of Liechtenstein and is stored in the archives in Vaduz. Bauer brothers will be the inspiration not only for the lecture but also for the children’s art workshops. Furthermore, the visuals for next year’s edition will also be based on their illustrations, kindly loaned from the Princely Collections.

Come celebrate this special event with us, where history and music merge into one and offer an unforgettable experience. We are looking forward to our joint experience at the LVMF 2025!

Sincerely,

Jiří Partyka
LVMF director and music programmer

Photo:
Josef Anton Bauer (1756–1831), Franz Andreas Bauer (1758–1840), Ferdinand Lukas Bauer (1760–1826), “CERCIS canadensis Lin: (…)”, from: Hortus Botanicus or Liber regni vegetabilis, plants assembled by Norbert Boccius, Prior of the Monastery of the Brothers of Mercy in Feldsberg (Valtice), Volume 12, fol. 136, 1798 LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna, Inv. GR 527.12 © LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna