Dobršská brána Festival 2025, Dobrš, Friday, August 15, 2025
The program of the ninth annual Dobršská brána Festival, which this time focused on the double bass, promised a number of new musical experiences thanks to unusual combinations of musical instruments accompanying the dominant bass. The festival was traditionally opened by presenter Michaela Ditrichová and festival director Ivo Kraml in the Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary in Dobrš.
The first performance of this year’s Dobršská brána festival in the beautifully lit church was given by Austrian bassist Peter Herbert. His solo improvisations captivated the audience not only with his brilliant technique, but especially with his successful efforts to use various unusual instruments on his double bass, such as a threaded rod or wooden sticks, which he intertwined between the strings to expand the sound with an additional percussive line. It was a very interesting, even daring introduction to the festival, which reaped well-deserved success.
Michal Kratochvíl:
Peter Herbert played mainly from the album Naked Bass II and during the concert he demonstrated a whole range of extended playing techniques, without the use of boxes or effects. He mentioned how he is in contact with other innovators of double bass playing and how he enjoys this connection. The highlight was his use of a curtain rod, which he stuck between the strings and let it vibrate, banging it against the body of the double bass, or when he used chopsticks. For the final piece dedicated to Charles Mingus, he tuned the bass up, which made it shine like the lights in the beautiful church in Dobřany. A successful performance!
For the second concert of Friday’s program, we walked through the gate to the castle in Dobrš, where the Polish Marcin Oleś Trio awaited us on the main festival stage. The Oleś brothers, Marcin on bass and Bartolomej on drums, invited flutist Dominik Strycharski to join their KOPTYCUS project. The source of inspiration for this project was the music of the Copts, one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. The moving, very gradual, perhaps slightly long introduction to the concert was dominated by Dominik’s flute and Marcin’s bass. Gradually, their music thickened until, thanks to the energetic drummer Bartolomej, it repeatedly culminated in fortissimo. A very successful addition to this year’s festival.
Michal Kratochvíl:
The Marcin Oleś Trio came to Dobrš to present their Koptycus project. As Michal mentioned above, the musicians drew inspiration for this project from Coptic music. Thanks to centuries of isolation and somewhat seclusion, they developed and have preserved their original musical language, dating back to pre-Christian times, assimilating Greek, Jewish, and somewhat later Muslim accents. The project was created at the invitation of a festival in Warsaw, and this extremely intimate music and brilliant sound enveloped Dobrš in a meditative and mystical atmosphere. A joy to listen to! It’s just a pity that the performance was interrupted by a rain shower, which scattered the audience under the nearby plum trees or their own umbrellas. Fortunately, it did not last too long and the disrupted intimacy was soon restored.
The third item on the program, again a solo double bass performance, was once again scheduled by the organizers in the brightly lit church, which was packed with eager fans, where one of Norway’s best bassists, Mats Eilertsen, took us on a journey through his focused improvisations from the “1” project. Similar to Peter Herbert in the introduction, Mats explored various possibilities of bass sounds during his performance, including subtle electronic effects.
Michal Kratochvíl:
Mats Eilertsen performed solo in the church, demonstrating how poignantly and movingly he can play with both his bow and his fingers. He accompanied his performance with effects and also used a looper. Of course, he also treated us to extended techniques, coaxing sounds like creaking doors from his double bass, playing the bridge, etc. A dreamy, melancholic, and immersive performance…
The last Friday performance of the ninth Dobršská brána festival culminated in a concert by the Serbian trio Nenad Vasilić. The highly experienced bassist Nenad clearly led not only the excellent accordionist Marko Zivadinović, but also the frenetic saxophonist Romed Hopfgartner with his dominant rhythms. Balkan motifs developed through jazz into imaginative, dynamic, and completely comprehensible music thrilled the large audience. Perhaps the video clip with the final Seven Blues from 10:15 will sufficiently convey this wonderful musical experience, which was clearly the highlight of the first day of the festival.
Michal Kratochvíl:
The Nenad Vasilić Trio didn’t take it too hard, but rather with feeling, to the point where one might say that the beginning of the performance was somewhat sleepy. The next piece also began very gently, and then suddenly solo eruptions arose, which significantly boosted the trio’s energy. Nenad confided that they have a lot of songs they could play and, without exaggeration, boasted that he has been trying to push the boundaries of double bass playing for many years. And he is succeeding. It was a pleasant performance that did not push the envelope, as many of us might have expected from Balkan musicians, but it was a nice way to round off a successful first day in Dobrš.
Translated from the original Czech version by Deepl.