Bert & Friends: Klasirdo

Czech band Bert & Friends as you've never seen them before: taking the stage at Rudlofinum in a new, piano-based incarnation.

Bert & Friends are one of the few Czech bands that can combine catchy retro melodies with musical sophistication, innovative spirit, and a taste for the bizarre – and this has won them admirers among both discerning music listeners and the wider public. They've already won an Anděl award for best video (and been nominated for best new act), an Apollo prize for innovation in music, and the Žebřík award for best newcomers. Those who like to pigeonhole would no doubt label their music alternative pop, but the mass appeal of the band is self-evident – borne witness to by sold-out club shows across the country, and increasingly frequent appearances at prestigious multi-genre festivals like Colours of Ostrava, Rock for People, Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Pohoda, and Pop Messe.

In recent times, the band has flirted with the theatre scene, appearing in Bakchanty at the National Theatre, and Bert himself in the production Gen XYZ at La Putyka theatre. The band's charismatic frontman Alberto Romanutti has become a distinctive, sometimes controversial figure on the contemporary music scene. To add more spice to the mix, beneath Bert's cloak of absurdity, musical humour, and taste for the overblown lies a classically-trained conductor and composer who contributes to film soundtracks and last year made his feature film debut with Sami Doma, which he co-directed and acted in. Bert & Friends' music also appears in the Czech TV series Stíny v mlze.

The band members are graduates of the Jaroslav Ježek conservatory, and as highly competent musicians are unafraid to také on a challenge. The Klasirdo project at Rudolfinum is the latest one.