Our journey from 1997 to the present
The IŠTVÁNCI brass band from Šardice was founded in July 1997. It was formed by several older members of the Mladá muzika youth brass ensemble from Šardice under bandleader Vít Gregorovič. The band is named after Josef Ištvánek, a long-serving and outstanding teacher of Mladá muzika who led the ensemble as its artistic director in its early days.
Ištvánci performs with 18 members, including vocal soloists and a sound engineer. The ensemble appears in traditional Slovácko folk costumes as well as matching civilian uniforms.
The brass band plays at celebrations, brass music festivals, balls, traditional feasts and other dances. Its repertoire ranges from folk music to pieces with modern rhythms. In June 2000, the band took part in the 14th Zlatá křídlovka international brass band competition, where it achieved an excellent fourth place in the gold category. It also received the Josef Frýbort Prize for the youngest orchestra, while singers Petra Škrobáková and Markéta Kůřilová won the award for best vocal performance. In July 2000, most members joined Mladá muzika on a trip to the world festival in Shizuoka, Japan. The band has also performed successfully abroad in Slovakia, France, Austria, Switzerland, Poland and the USA.
In 2002, Ištvánci celebrated its fifth anniversary. At the beginning of July, the band recorded its first cassette and CD, Ze Šardic, marking the anniversary with songs that listeners could enjoy at home. By then, Ištvánci was performing under bandleader Jan Zahrádka.
In June 2004, the band took part in the 16th Zlatá křídlovka international competition, finishing third and also receiving the Audience Choice Award.
A year later, in June 2005, the brass band released its second CD and cassette, Muzikantská, for its fans. In 2006, Ištvánci was invited to record the Czech Television programme “Vyhrávala kapela” at Žofín Palace in Prague, where its appearance was warmly received. In 2007, the band's tenth anniversary was marked by another recording, Po dědině. Soon afterwards came an invitation to record the programme “Ta naša kapela” for Czech Television Brno in the village of Perná.
To celebrate the band's 15th anniversary, Ištvánci entered the recording studio for the fourth time and created the CD Vítajů vás Ištvánci, once again under the artistic direction of Radek Růžička.
In 2017, the band celebrated 20 years since its founding, providing another opportunity to release a recording. This time it was not only the CD Šardická dědina, but also a DVD entitled U muziky, based on the new CD and supplemented with pieces from the previous album.
In 2019, the CD Poznání was released in collaboration with the renowned Austrian publisher Tuba Musikverlag. It presents 14 lost and forgotten compositions by Antonín Žváček, whose music is popular both at home and abroad—pieces that had never been performed by a brass band or had not been played for decades. It was a truly unique project.
In 2022, the band celebrated the 25th anniversary of its founding. To mark the occasion, the members voted for the most popular tracks from all of Ištvánci's previous recordings. These selections, together with several newly recorded pieces, became the CD Šardická stárečka.
The year 2025 brought our longest tour yet, filled with experiences and memories of friends in the USA. Invited by the United Moravian Societies, we travelled to Chicago to perform as an accompanying band at the 86th Moravian Day.
Today, the Ištvánci brass band is led by bandleader and E-flat clarinetist Milan Bělík, with Marek Rapáč as artistic director.
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