Uncategorized – Prague Spring

Third Week of the Prague Spring marked by large-scale vocal-instrumental works

Kateřina Koutná — Sun, 24 May 2026 06:02:00 +0000

The third week at the Prague Spring International Music Festival will be marked by large-scale vocal-instrumental works featuring outstanding casts of soloists. On 25 May, Hector Berlioz’s “légende dramatique” La Damnation de Faust will be performed at the festival for only the second time in its history, with Paul Appleby (Faust), Alexander Vinogradov (Méphistophélès), Štěpánka Pučálková (Marguerite) and Pavel Švingr (Brander) as soloists. The Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Philharmonic Choir, the Prague Philharmonic Children’s Choir and the quartet of soloists will be conducted by Tomáš Netopil. The concert will be broadcast live by Czech Radio Vltava.

French repertoire will also feature prominently on 26 May, when Prague Spring 2026 Artist-in-Residence Barbara Hannigan will appear in the dual role of singer and conductor in her debut with the Czech Philharmonic at the Rudolfinum, presenting her own interpretation of Francis Poulenc’s operatic monodrama The Human Voice. The project, enhanced by live video projections, will receive its Czech premiere. The “French triptych” will conclude on 27 May with a work on the border between oratorio and opera – Jules Massenet’s Marie-Magdeleine. Conducted by Robert Jindra, who will lead the Chorus and Orchestra of the National Theatre on the stage of the National Theatre, the title roles will be performed by soprano Aleksandra Kurzak (Mary Magdalene), tenor Kang Wang (Jesus), mezzo-soprano Arnheiður Eiríksdóttir (Martha) and bass František Zahradníček (Judas). The project has been created in cooperation with the National Theatre. This remarkable series of large-scale vocal-instrumental works will culminate on 28 May with a performance of Joseph Haydn’s oratorio The Creation. It was last heard at the festival in 1982 under Austrian conductor Leopold Hager. This time, the performance will be conducted by Václav Luks leading the Orchestra and Choir of the Age of Enlightenment.

Among the outstanding vocal-instrumental events of the coming week we may also include one of the breakthrough works of the late 20th century by Prague Offspring 2026 Composer-in-Residence Unsuk Chin, Akrostichon-Wortspiel. The composition, which opened the doors of the world’s leading concert halls to Unsuk Chin, will be performed on the opening evening of Prague Offspring on 29 May by the Ensemble Modern and soprano Sarah Aristidou. During her festival residency, audiences can also look forward to Unsuk Chin’s Double Concerto for piano, percussion and ensemble (29 May) and Gougalōn (30 May), inspired by Korean street theatre. Prague Offspring will also present five world premieres commissioned by the Prague Spring International Music Festival: Die Intercedences by Michal Nejtek (29 May), based on fragments of texts by Franz Kafka, COVID-19 (Fury and Silence) by Jiří Kadeřábek, Unravel by Michaela Antalová, 423 by Tobiáš Horváth and funktionslust : R by Patrik Kako (30 May). Alongside the concerts, audiences will also be able to draw inspiration over the two days, 29 and 30 May, at the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art through workshops, open discussions and a masterclass with members of the Ensemble Modern. A public masterclass will also be led by Barbara Hannigan on 31 May in the Suk Hall of the Rudolfinum.

On Saturday 30 May, from 14.00 to 20.00, the third edition of the popular SpringTEEN project for the youngest audiences will take place in the grounds of the Convent of St Agnes. Children and teenagers can once again look forward to concerts and workshops inspired this year by the worlds of visualisation, movement and musical theatre. This year’s stars of SpringTEEN will include actor and singer Jan Cina, the Floex Ensemble with the robot Josef, and the traditional SpringTEEN Band, now expanded by SpringTEEN Band Junior. The afternoon will culminate at 18.30 in the Grand Finale, featuring the world premiere of The Spring by composer and conductor Marko Ivanović, traditionally involving both children and the SpringTEEN audience. Thanks to the support of ABB Česká republika, SpringTEEN will once again connect the worlds of technology and art, while a new feature this year will be a workshop and Chill-Out Zone in cooperation with the AutTalk Foundation, which supports children with autism spectrum disorder. The SpringTEEN programme has once again been curated by Klára Boudalová.

The third festival week will culminate in a Sunday full of music. On 31 May at the Rudolfinum, a chamber concert of works by Antonín Dvořák performed by violinist Jiří Vodička and pianist David Mareček will begin at 17.00. In the evening, two extraordinary works of the 19th and 20th centuries will be performed at the Municipal House by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin: Dmitri Shostakovich’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 1, written for the winner of the 1952 Prague Spring Competition, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6. The solo part in the Shostakovich concerto will this time be performed by the winner of the 2025 Prague Spring Competition, Japanese cellist Yuya Mizuno. The Grammy Award-winning orchestra will be conducted by another outstanding Czech conductor, Tomáš Hanus. On Sunday 31 May, the traditional memorial tribute to Josef Suk will also take place with a concert in Křečovice.

The week full of music will open with the cinema premiere of the documentary Prague Spring – A Window onto the World by director and screenwriter Martin Suchánek, created to mark the 80^th anniversary of the Prague Spring Festival. The premiere will take place in the presence of the filmmakers on Monday 25 May at Cinema 35 at the French Institute in Prague. The documentary, co-produced by the Prague Spring, Czech Television and innogy Česká republika, is already available on Czech Television’s iVysílání platform.

Tickets for individual festival events are available online at festival.cz and at the festival box offices in the Rudolfinum and the Municipal House.

Second Week of the Prague Spring: early music, jazz, opera, chamber music, and start of Barbara Hannigan’s residency

Kateřina Koutná — Sun, 17 May 2026 10:20:06 +0000

The second festival week at the Prague Spring will be devoted to early music, chamber music, jazz and opera. On Wednesday, the artistic residency of soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan will begin with its first concert; the legendary jazz pianist Fred Hersch will make his Prague Spring debut; the winner of the 2025 Warsaw International Chopin Piano Competition 2025, Eric Lu, will give a recital; and the highlight of the rich weekend programme will be a concert by the Oslo Philharmonic with conductor Klaus Mäkelä and cellist Truls Mørk.

The second festival week will open with the Prague Spring Debut concert, whose protagonist this year is conductor Ondřej Soukup. For his first festival appearance on 18 May at the Rudolfinum, where he will conduct the Prague Philharmonia, he has chosen a “dance-inspired” programme featuring works by Aaron Copland, Alberto Ginastera and Antonín Dvořák. Their atmospheric counterpoint will be provided by Samuel Barber’s compelling vocal-instrumental work Knoxville: Summer of 1915 on a text by James Agee. The solo part will be performed by leading Slovak soprano Simona Šaturová.

On Tuesday 19 May, violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja will return to the festival to give the Prague Spring premiere of Luboš Fišer’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra. In doing so, she will conclude her artistic residency from last year, during which she presented Fišer’s chamber works for violin and piano as well as the celebrated Crux. The Czech Philharmonic will be conducted by Jakub Hrůša. Alongside Fišer’s music, audiences will hear the suite from Leoš Janáček’s opera Fate, Béla Bartók’s Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra, and the spectacular suite from his ballet The Miraculous Mandarin. The concert will be broadcast live by Czech Radio Vltava.

Barbara Hannigan’s artistic residency will begin on Wednesday 20 May with a chamber recital together with French pianist Bertrand Chamayou, featuring, among other works, the Czech premiere of John Zorn’s Jumalattaret on texts from the Finnish epic Kalevala. On Sunday 24 May, Hannigan will invite the outstanding Belcea Quartet to join her on stage for a programme transporting audiences to the splendour of the Belle Époque.

Audiences can also look forward to several other chamber music projects. The programme includes two piano recitals: on 22 May, a recital by the winner of the 2025 Warsaw International Chopin Piano Competition 2025, Eric Lu, and on 23 May, a piano matinée by the recent recipient of the BBC Music Magazine Award, Jan Schulmeister. The final string quartets of Benjamin Britten and Antonín Dvořák will be performed on 23 May at the Convent of St Agnes by the Bennewitz Quartet, while the chamber concerts of the second festival week will culminate on 24 May with a recital by French lutenist Thomas Dunford featuring works by Italian, French, German, Spanish and English Renaissance and Baroque masters.

The Helsinki Baroque Orchestra with artistic leader Aapo Häkkinen will make its Prague Spring debut on 21 May at the Rudolfinum. The ensemble will bring to Prague a programme with a strong Czech connection: Jakub Jan Ryba’s Stabat Mater and the modern premiere of the oratorio La Purificazione di Maria Virgine by Antonio Casimir Cartellieri, who worked at the end of the 18^th century at the court of Prince Joseph Franz Maximilian von Lobkowitz. This concert will also be broadcast live on Czech Radio Vltava.

One of the most eagerly anticipated concerts of the second festival week will be the jazz evening by the Fred Hersch Trio at the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art. Seventeen-time Grammy nominee Fred Hersch will appear at the Prague Spring for the first time. The concert partner is Mercedes-Benz Czech Republic.

Saturday 23 May will bring another highlight of this year’s orchestral series – a performance by the Oslo Philharmonic with conductor Klaus Mäkelä and Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk, who will perform Antonín Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor. It will be one of Mäkelä’s final appearances as Chief Conductor of the orchestra before fully assuming his positions with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The second work on the programme will be Jean Sibelius’s Lemminkäinen suite.

Opera will also have its place during the week. In cooperation with the National Theatre in Prague, one of the most significant operatic works of the 20th century, Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, directed by Barbara Horáková Joly and featuring Jana Sibera in the title role, will receive its Prague Spring premiere at the State Opera Prague on 21 May. The performance will be conducted by the Music Director of the State Opera, Hermann Bäumer.

Tickets for individual festival concerts are available online at festival.cz/en and at the festival box offices in the Rudolfinum and the Municipal House.

Maël Metzger from France wins the 77th Prague Spring International Music Competition in the flute category

koubova@festival.cz — Fri, 15 May 2026 15:32:33 +0000

The winner in the flute category of the 77th Prague Spring International Music Competition is the twenty-two-year-old Maël Metzger from France. Second and third places went to his compatriots Iris Daverio and Mathilde Alvin Besson. An Honourable Mention of the Jury was awarded to the German flautist Moritz Schulte. “I don’t think I’ve ever experienced so many emotions in my life as I have here tonight during the final,” said Maël Metzger after receiving the prize. He also received the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation Prize, Prize of the City of Prague for the most successful laureate, the Bärenreiter Prize, the Czech Radio Prize, a performance at the 82nd Prague Spring International Music Festival in 2027 and with the Pilsen Philharmonic during the 2026–2027 season. The popular Audience Prize presented by the Friends of Prague Spring patrons’ club, won Iris Daverio.

Overview of prizes awarded

1st Prize Maël Metzger

2nd Prize Iris Daverio

3rd Prize Mathilde Alvin Besson

Honourable Mention of the Jury: Moritz Schulte

Audience Prize: Iris Daverio

Bohuslav Martinů Foundation Prize for the best performance of a composition by Bohuslav Martinů: Maël Metzger

Czech Music Fund Foundation Prize for the best performance of Dances and Song of the Night for Flute and Piano by Petr Popelka: Moritz Schulte

Prize of the City of Prague for the most successful laureate: Maël Metzger

Czech Radio Prize: Maël Metzger

Bärenreiter Prize: Maël Metzger

Performance at the 82nd Prague Spring International Music Festival in 2027: Maël Metzger

Performance with the Pilsen Philharmonic during the 2026–2027 season: Maël Metzger

As is tradition, the laureates also received several paid performance engagements both in the Czech Republic and abroad.

It is worth repeating that a record 239 flautists applied for this year’s Prague Spring International Music Competition. “The level of competition was extremely high. Thank you to the wonderful team that organized everything so well, thank you to all the judges, and thank you to the contestants, who were very brave. They could all be my children, and it’s very hard for a father to see his children work so hard because they have a desire to succeed. And that is exactly what these three young artists are doing, and we should give them a big BRAVO for it,” said Philippe Bernold, Chairman of the flute jury.

The final round featured Johann Sebastian Bach’s Partita in A minor for solo flute BWV 1013 and the Concerto for Flute and Orchestra by Jindřich Feld accompanied by the Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Kaspar Zehnder. The winner was decided by a jury comprising Philippe Bernold (France) – Chairman of the Jury, Emily Beynon (United Kingdom / Netherlands), Christina Fassbender (Germany), Davide Formisano (Italy, Germany), Barthold Kuijken (Belgium), Václav Kunt (Czech Republic) and Jan Ostrý(Czech Republic).

The entire final evening, which took place on 13 May in the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum, is available on the Prague Spring YouTube channel, @PragueSpringFestival. Nearly 4,200 users watched the live stream of the final round, and to date, nearly 35,000 users have viewed live streams or recordings of the 2026 Prague Spring International Music Competition. Partners of the competition are the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the City of Prague and the ČEZ Foundation. Tomorrow, May 14, the competition will culminate with the piano finals.

Sehyeok Son from the Republic of Korea Wins the piano category of the 77th Prague Spring International Music Competition

Iva Nevoralova — Fri, 15 May 2026 10:08:48 +0000

The winner of the piano category of the 77th Prague Spring International Music Competition is the eighteen-year-old Sehyeok Son from the Republic of Korea. Second and third places were awarded to Zhiquan Wang and Xuehong Chen from China. “I feel very refreshed. And what will I remember most? The charming personality of the conductor. I had always thought conductors were intimidating and very strict. But he proved to me that this is not the case,” said the winner Sehyeok Son, who performed Johannes Brahms’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 in the final round. “Brahms’s First Piano Concerto is fantastic; it is almost like chamber music. It requires a very delicate balance between the piano and the orchestra, and I think Sehyeok Son managed that brilliantly,” said Chairman of the Jury Daniel Browell in praise of the winner.

Overview of prizes awarded

1st Prize Sehyeok Son (Republic of Korea)
2nd Prize Zhiquan Wang (China)
3rd Prize Xuehong Chen (China)

Honourable Mentions of the Jury awarded after the second round: Ziye Tao from China and Junho Cha from the Republic of Korea
Audience Prize: Zhiquan Wang
Czech Music Fund Foundation Prize for the best performance of a work composed for the Prague Spring IMC 2026 – Afro pour piano by Kryštof Mařatka: Ziye Tao and Zhiquan Wang from China
Viktor Kalabis and Zuzana Růžičková Prize: Sehyeok Son
Prize of the City of Prague: Sehyeok Son
Bärenreiter Prize: Sehyeok Son
Oleg Podgorný Prize for the most successful youngest Czech participant in the competition, awarded by the Artist’s Life Foundation: Eliška Tkadlčíková
Czech Centres Prize for the most successful Czech participant in the competition: Eliška Tkadlčíková
Gideon Klein Foundation Prize for the most successful Czech participant: Eliška Tkadlčíková
Performance at the 82nd Prague Spring International Music Festival in 2027: Sehyeok Son

The performances of the three finalists during the final evening, which took place on 14 May in the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum with the Prague Symphony Orchestra and conductor Petr Altrichter, are available to watch on the Prague Spring YouTube channel @PragueSpringFestival. The winner was decided by a jury comprising Daniel Browell (United Kingdom) – Chairman of the Jury, Joonas Ahonen (Finland), Dina Yoffe (Latvia, Germany), Leonel Morales (Spain), Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń (Poland), Martin Kasík (Czech Republic) and Ivo Kahánek (Czech Republic).

The second and final rounds of both the flute and piano categories were streamed live and remain available as recordings on the Prague Spring YouTube channel. As of today, they have exceeded 40,000 views. Partners of the competition were the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the City of Prague and the ČEZ Foundation.

Watch the live broadcast of the flute competition finals at the 77th Prague Spring Competition. May 14 at 6:00 p.m. from the Rudolfinum

Iva Nevoralova — Thu, 14 May 2026 16:22:06 +0000

Change to the program of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra concert today on May 14 at the Municipal House

Iva Nevoralova — Thu, 14 May 2026 12:39:33 +0000

It is with great regret that we announce that, due to illness, Magdalena Kožená is unfortunately unable to perform at today’s concert by the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, at which she was to present the Czech premiere of Ondřej Adámek’s composition Where Are You?. For this reason, there will be a change in the program. Instead of the originally planned Where Are You?, the Overture and Liebestod from Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde will be performed.

The pre-concert meet-the-artist with Ondřej Adámek has also been cancelled.

Programme:

Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 86 in D major “Paris” Hob. I:86
Richard Wagner: Tristan und Isolde WWV 90 – Prelude and Liebestod
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor Op. 98

We are attaching a personal statement from Magdalena Kožená:

Dear guests of today’s Prague Spring concert,
It is with great regret that I must inform you that, for health reasons, I am unable to perform at today’s premiere of Ondřej Adámek’s song cycle Where Are You? I am all the more sorry because my collaboration with Ondřej has been one of the most precious experiences of my professional life. The work he wrote for me is exceptionally close to my heart. We were both immensely looking forward to sharing it with a home audience right here at the Prague Spring. It is all the more painful for me that, due to my illness, this cannot happen this time. However, I would like to assure you that together we will do everything we can to ensure that this exceptional composition is performed for the Czech audience at the Prague Spring as soon as possible.
Thank you for your understanding and support.
Yours,
Magdalena Kožená

Watch the live broadcast of the flute competition finals at the 77th Prague Spring Competition. May 13 at 6:00 p.m. from the Rudolfinum

Iva Nevoralova — Wed, 13 May 2026 14:27:46 +0000

Young artists from China and Republic of Korea advance to the piano final of the Prague Spring International Music Competition 2026

Iva Nevoralova — Mon, 11 May 2026 22:23:06 +0000

Of the ten participants in the second round of the piano category of the Prague Spring International Music Competition, Xuehong Chen and Zhiquan Wang from China and Sehyeok Son from the Republic of Korea have advanced to the final round, which will take place on Thursday 14 May from 18.00 CET at the Rudolfinum.

In the final round, audiences will hear the following three piano concertos performed with the Prague Symphony Orchestra and conductor Petr Altrichter: Johannes Brahms’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 in D minor Op. 15, Frédéric Chopin’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 in E minor Op. 11, and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 3 in D minor Op. 30. The already completely sold-out final round will be streamed live online on the YouTube channel of the Prague Spring International Music Festival, @PragueSpringFestival. For the first time in the competition’s history, the stream will also be carried by the website of the British magazine Gramophone.

Honourable Mentions were awarded to Ziye Tao from China and Junho Cha from the Republic of Korea. The Czech Music Fund Foundation Prize for the best performance of a work composed for the Prague Spring IMC 2025 – Afro pour piano by Kryštof Mařatka – was awarded to Ziye Tao and Zhiquan Wang from China.

The final of the Prague Spring Competition 2026 piano category will take place on Thursday 14 May from 18.00 in the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum. The results are expected at around 23.00 CET. The winner will be decided by a jury comprising Daniel Browell (United Kingdom) – Chairman of the Jury, Joonas Ahonen (Finland), Dina Yoffe (Latvia, Germany), Leonel Morales (Spain), Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń (Poland), Martin Kasík (Czech Republic) and Ivo Kahánek (Czech Republic).

Partners of the competition are the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the City of Prague and the ČEZ Foundation.

Recording of the second round:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Three young flautists from France advance to the final of the Prague Spring International Music Competition 2026

Iva Nevoralova — Sun, 10 May 2026 21:57:14 +0000

Of the eleven participants in the second round of the Prague Spring International Music Competition 2026 flute category, in which young artists from Slovenia, the United States, Germany, Israel, Italy, France, Portugal and the Republic of Korea competed against one another, the following three French flautists have advanced to the final round, to be held on Wednesday 13 May from 18.00 at the Rudolfinum: Mathilde Alvin Besson, Iris Daverio and Maël Metzger.

In the final, all three finalists will perform Johann Sebastian Bach’s Partita in A minor for solo flute BWV 1013 and the Concerto for Flute and Orchestra by Jindřich Feld, accompanied by the Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Kaspar Zehnder. The final round of this year’s competition will be streamed live online on the Prague Spring YouTube channel, @PragueSpringFestival. It is also still possible to come to the Rudolfinum in person and support the finalists live. Audiences can look forward not only to the excellent, almost sporting atmosphere of the final rounds, but will also have the chance to win tickets to one of this year’s Prague Spring International Music Festival concerts.

An Honourable Mention and the Czech Music Fund Foundation Prize for the best performance of a work composed for the Prague Spring IMC 2026 – Dances and Song of the Night for Flute and Piano by Petr Popelka – were awarded to Moritz Schulte from Germany. The Bohuslav Martinů Foundation Prize for the best performance of the Sonata for Flute and Piano was awarded to Maël Metzger from France.

The final of the Prague Spring International Music Competition 2026 flute category will take place on Wednesday 13 May from 18.00 in the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum. The results are expected at around 22.00. The winner will be decided by a jury comprising Philippe Bernold (France) – Chairman of the Jury, Emily Beynon (United Kingdom / Netherlands), Christina Fassbender (Germany), Davide Formisano (Italy, Germany), Barthold Kuijken (Belgium), Václav Kunt (Czech Republic) and Jan Ostrý (Czech Republic).

Partners of the Prague Spring International Music Competition 2026 are the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the City of Prague and the ČEZ Foundation.

Recording of the second round:
Part I: https://youtu.be/FBodafUErq0
Part II: https://youtu.be/nnuNkTQ2DVQ
Part III: https://youtu.be/4eV44ZVYDh8

The first round of the piano competition has ended. Who has advanced to the next round on May 11?

Iva Nevoralova — Sat, 09 May 2026 23:35:47 +0000

After two busy days filled with outstanding performances by young pianists, the jury announced the 10 contestants advancing to the second round. Among selected semi-finalists are (in alphabetical order):

Bae Jae Sung (Republic of Korea)
Cha Junho (Republic of Korea)
Chen Xuehong (China)
Son Sehyeok (Republic of Korea)
Takezawa Yuto (Japan)
Tan Qianlin (China)
Tao Ziye (China)
Tkadlčíková Eliška (Czech Republic)
Wang Zhiquan (China)
Zhu Hanyuan (China)

You can find the detailed schedule for Round II HERE.
Tickets for Round II are available at the venue or on the festival website.
If you are unable to attend in person, you can watch the performances online on the Prague Spring YouTube channel @PragueSpringFestival.
For more information, follow the competition on Facebook and Instagram.