The theme of this year’s Forum Musicum will be the madrigal, a genre of vocal music that can surprise with variety of forms. It appeared in the works of the Italian ars nova era already in the 14th century and was characterised by virtuosity and the use of sophisticated poetic forms. In the 16th century, it flourished and evolved on the basis of polyphonic consort music. Its different styles developed over three different periods. Due to the strong links between music and text, the Mannerist madrigal of the late 16th century became an important field for the development of the Baroque style in vocal music. The first half of the 17th century brought a new shape, instruments and basso continuo accompaniment began to be used. Previously, only madrigals were arranged in cycles, but at the beginning of the Baroque, madrigal comedies emerged. During the festival, we will reach for this extraordinary wealth of the repertoire of past eras, and we will try to show the variety of the madrigal.