The Salesian Youth Centre – House for Children and Youth České Budějovice invites you to a benefit concert. This year the invitation was accepted by the leading jazz and swing singer
Jan Smigmator
The concert will take place in the Church of St. Vojtěch, E. Destinova 1, České Budějovice
10. 5. 2023 from 19:00
Advance ticket sales:
1) at the Salesian Youth Centre in Čtyře Dvory (Emy Destinové 1): Mon-Thurs 13-19h
2) at the Carmelite Bookstore (Na Sadech 19) České Budějovice: Mon-Fri 8-18h
Tickets can be purchased in advance for a discounted price of 350 CZK, this price is valid until 30 April. From 1 May, the ticket price rises to 450 CZK, so don’t hesitate, come and listen to great music and support a good cause at the same time. (Seats are not numbered. Children up to and including 6 years of age are admitted free of charge.) Payment is cash only.
Jan Smigmator (*1986) is a jazz and swing singer who embodies the legacy of swing kings such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, Mel Tormé, Karel Hála, and the still fantastic Tony Bennett on the 21st century music scene with a refinement all his own. His voice, style, phrasing and love of jazz and swing make him one of the leading performers of the genre in Europe today.
Nowadays Jan mostly performs with his backing quartet, but you can also see him on concert stages accompanied by Felix Slováček’s RTV Big Band, Gustav Brom’s Big Band, B-Side Band or the Central Music of the Army of the Czech Republic.
Jan Smigmator has four solo albums to his credit, the first of which – the debut “Swing Is Back” was released in 2013, the album “Time To Swing” in 2015 and two years later in 2017 followed the Czech-English album Vánoce/Christmas. In 2018, Jan Smigmator released a major international album on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of George Gershwin’s birth, which he recorded with London-based singer Mitch Winehouse, father of Amy Winehouse, and aptly titled “Smigmator GERSHWIN Winehouse”.
Since 2011, Jan Smigmator has also been a presenter on Czech Radio Dvojka, on whose airwaves he broadcasts his original music programme Klub Evergreen together with the singer Dasha, which focuses on the promotion of jazz, swing and especially its performers. It focuses on both musical history and the hot present.
At the end of April, Jan Smigmator will be performing one of the most important concerts of his career so far, a solo performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall, where he will be accompanied by, among others, the leaders of the American jazz scene, members of the aforementioned Tony Bennett’s backing band. If you don’t have a trip to New York at the moment, you have another chance to hear Jan on 10 May 2023 in České Budějovice.
We are very happy that Jan accepted the offer and decided to sing at the benefit concert for the Salesian Youth Center at St. Vojtech Church. Accompanied by a pianist and a double bass player, he will sing both well-known and lesser-known songs from the Great American Songbook, as well as original songs. You can look forward to Moon River, The Days Of Wine And Roses, L.O.V.E or My Way with Jan’s original lyrics To Follow My Dream.
Jan Smigmator will also be accompanied in several songs by a choir of children from the Vojtěch Elementary School, for whom a performance with a singer of this calibre will certainly be a great experience and unforgettable.