Czech morning news in brief: Good news headlines for May 18, 2021

Austria opens to tourists with vaccination or a test

From Wednesday, May 19, travelers from the Czech Republic and many other European countries with low incidences of new coronavirus cases are not required to quarantine for ten days after arriving in Austria. Travelers only need proof of vaccination against Covid-19 or a negative test or confirmation of recovery from the disease. Until now, exceptions applied only to commuters and business trips; the newly relaxed rules permit tourists to enter Austria. In addition to the Czech Republic, these countries include Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Slovakia, Hungary, Switzerland, Spain, but also South Korea, and Australia. iDnes.cz

Bust of Miloš Forman unveiled at film director's birth house

A bust of famed Czech director Miloš Forman was unveiled at the house where he lived as a child in Čáslav near Kutná Hora Monday. Forman's twin sons Matěj and Petr, as well as his granddaughters, attended the ceremony. The director's portrait was placed on the facade of the house where he was born. Previously, Čáslav named the street where the house is after Forman's family to honor Forman's parents Anna and Rudolf who died in concentration camps in World War Two. Forman, 86, died in the hospital in Danbury, Connecticut, on April 13, 2018. The most successful Czech filmmaker of all time became a representative of the Czech film New Wave in the 1960s, making popular black comedies such as Černý Petr (Black Peter, 1963), Lásky jedné plavovlásky (Loves of a Blonde, 1965) and Hoří, má panenko (The Firemen's Ball, 1967). Forman won two Oscar Academy Awards for the Best Director for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and Amadeus (1984), most scenes of which were shot in his homeland. ČTK

Prague's 19th-century Křižík's fountain returns to life

Křižík's Fountain came to life at the Prague Exhibition Grounds to the soundtrack of composer Juraj Klička, during Monday's rehearsal of the performance "The Magic Fountain." The performance and the story of František Křižík use the effects of water, light, and fire. The premiere will take place on July 8, followed by six reruns. The creators of the performance by production company Pyroterra tested the effects with the fountain switched on for the first time. The story of the performance is inspired by events from the life of the industrialist and inventor František Křižík. The electrically lit fountain was built by Křižík for the jubilee exhibition in 1891. Its current form is based on the reconstruction for the jubilee exhibition held in 1991. It has almost 3,000 nozzles and 1,248 underwater spotlights. The sound system is provided by 55 speakers, the auditorium can accommodate more than 6,000 spectators. The regular show at the fountain ended in 2017, and in 2019 it received a new stage. The Prague Exhibition Grounds, including the fountain, is managed by the company of the same name, which is owned by the capital. ČTK

Czech researchers: Listening to Mozart might help people with epilepsy

Listening to Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D major helps to suppress epileptic discharge in both men's and women's brains, while Joseph Haydn's music provokes a suppression of discharges in women, but growth in men, a team of researchers and doctors from the Brno CEITEC university institute has written. Their conclusions were published in the European Journal of Neurology. Previous research showed that university students score better in spatial orientation tests after listening to Mozart's sonata for ten minutes. Thus, the term "the Mozart effect" was coined, but scientists and psychologists varied in their view of it. Mozart's music was also tested as a potential therapy for some neuropsychiatric diseases, such as the ischemic brain and Parkinson's disease. Men are more sensitive to dissonancies and high-frequency oscillations, while women are more perceptive to the energy of the music in question, researchers found.The anti-epileptic effect of music might help in the future as a non-invasive stimulation therapy, but further research is still needed. ČTK

Nick Cave announces surprise open-air Prague concert next year

Australian musician and singer Nick Cave, who has a large fanbase in the Czech Republic, will perform with his band The Bad Seeds at the Metronome Prague 2022 festival. The fifth year of the event will take place on June 23-26 next year at the Prague Exhibition Grounds. Sixty-three-year-old Cave has been traveling to the Czech Republic since the early 1990s. His series of performances began with sold-out concerts in 1992 and 1993 in Prague's Lucerna. Beck has also confirmed participation in the even. "We promised music fans that Metronome Prague 2022 will be. We promised all patient ticket holders a big surprise. I believe that, like us, they are very happy with this news. Beck and Nick Cave's participation in the program of one event is a truly rare music event, "said the festival's producer, David Gaydečka. Cave's last scheduled performance at Prague' O2 arena was canceled due to Covid. ČTK