This masterclass focuses on the period interpretation of music of the 17^th and 18^th centuries and is aimed at players of the modern flute. Active participation is free of charge. All those interested in taking part may register via the email address masterclass@festival.cz by sending us their current CV not later than 31 March 2026.

A specialist in the Baroque transverse flute and the recorder, Barthold Kuijken originally studied the modern flute at Bruges Conservatoire and at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. The chance discovery of a Baroque flute and his subsequent study of original instruments in museums and private collections, and also 17^th and 18^th century sources, led him to early music and his specialisation in performance on Baroque instruments. He has collaborated with René Jacobs, harpsichordists Robert Kohnen and Gustav Leonhardt and violinist Lucy van Dael. He was a member of Collegium Aureum for many years and he still performs in La Petite Bande. At the same time he was also a member of the Mons-based ensemble Musiques Nouvelles with its focus on contemporary music. He has made recordings for Sony Classical, harmonia mundi (today BMG), Accent and Opus 111. His scholarly work includes a new annotated Urtext edition of Johann Sebastian Bach’s flute compositions for Breitkopf & Härtel. He teaches Baroque flute at the Royal Conservatoires in Brussels and The Hague. Barthold Kuijken is attending the festival as a member of the jury of the Prague Spring International Music Competition.

This masterclass is aimed at students of singing and is not limited to any specific repertoire. Active participation is free of charge. All those interested in taking part may register via the email address masterclass@festival.cz by sending us their current CV not later than 31 March 2026.

Artist-in-Residence of the Prague Spring 2026 Barbara Hannigan is one of the most original figures in the sphere of classical music. With her typical fearlessness she sings and conducts, she inspires the finest contemporary composers in their endeavours, and she creates unique projects which go far beyond the customary concert experience. Born in Canada, she has performed the premieres of more than one hundred works. She collaborates with some of the world’s most distinguished conductors and orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic. Her exceptional artistic achievements likewise include a number of prestigious awards, among them a Grammy Award, the title Artist of the Year from Gramophone magazine, and the Polar Music Prize 2025, a Swedish international award established by music publisher and manager of ABBA Stig Anderson, which she won together with jazzman Herbie Hancock and the rock band Queen. Also in 2025 she earned the title Artist of the Year at the Musical America Awards.

Barbara Hannigan has been focusing her attention on the young generation of artists for several years. In 2017 she established the mentoring programme Equilibrium Young Artists and in 2020 the platform Momentum: our future, now. Both initiatives offer young professional musicians artistic guidance and interesting performance opportunities. Barbara Hannigan is also Reinbert de Leeuw Professor of Music at the Royal Academy of Music in London and Creative Associate at the Juilliard School in New York.

Barbara Hannigan’s residency at the Prague Spring 2026
20/5 Barbara Hannigan & Bertrand Chamayou
24/5 Barbara Hannigan & Belcea Quartet
26/5 Barbara Hannigan – La Voix humaine
2/6 Barbara Hannigan & Czech Philharmonic

This masterclass, held by member of the Belcea Quartet, violist Krzysztof Chorzelski, is aimed at string quartet players. Active participation is free of charge. All those interested in taking part may register via the email address masterclass@festival.cz by sending us a current profile of their ensemble not later than 31 March 2026.

Professor of viola at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, Krzysztof Chorzelski has been a member of the Belcea Quartet since 1996. He has also collaborated with other outstanding chamber ensembles such as Quatuor Ysaÿe, Les Dissonances and the Razumovsky Ensemble. In 2006 he joined the Alban Berg Quartet to perform works by W. A. Mozart at Vienna’s Konzerthaus. He won the Tadeusz Wroński Violin Competition in Warsaw in 1992 and, as a member of the Belcea Quartet, he was a prize-winner at other world competitions in Osaka, Bordeaux and in Banff, Canada. With the quartet he took up a five-year residency at London’s Wigmore Hall (2001–2006) and appeared in concert with the ensemble in a number of prestigious venues: Berlin’s Philharmonie, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall and Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. He gives regular chamber music and viola masterclasses in Poland, Romania and Colombia. Krzysztof Chorzelski is appearing at the Prague Spring as a member of the Belcea Quartet together with Barbara Hannigan in the Rudolfinum on 24 May.

This masterclass is aimed at students of the piano and is not limited to any specific repertoire. Active participation is free of charge. All those interested in taking part may register via the email address masterclass@festival.cz by sending us their current CV not later than 31 March 2026.

A professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne, Joonas Ahonen was a member of Klangforum Wien for twelve years, where he collaborated with composers such as Tristan Murail and Beat Furrer. He is familiar to the Prague public thanks to his superb performance of Ligeti’s Piano Concerto with Klangforum Wien at Prague Offspring 2023. He presented Makrokosmos by George Crumb at the Salzburg Festival. In addition to music of the 20^th and 21^st centuries, he feels equally at home in works dating from the 18^th and 19^th centuries, which he performs on the fortepiano as well. In 2024 he was appointed Artistic Director of the Finnish ensemble Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, which specialises in contemporary music. He is also artistic partner to violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, with whom he appeared at the Prague Spring in 2025. Their joint album Le monde selon George Antheil (The World According to George Antheil) was described by Britain’s Gramophone magazine as “a miracle”. Joonas Ahonen is attending the festival as a member of the jury of the Prague Spring International Music Competition.

4 sextets, 3 world premieres
Nikol Bóková, Pavel Samiec and Matteo Hager

The now traditional MenART Academy concert at the Prague Spring is the outcome of further inspirational encounters between the youngest musical talents and their role models – leading figures on the Czech music scene: Tomáš Jamník, Jakub Jedlinský, Ivo Kahánek, Karel Košárek, Jan Ostrý, Irvin Venyš and Jan Fišer. On this occasion the programme will focus on the unusual combination of cello and accordion.

Commissioned by the Prague Spring festival, two sextets by Nikol Bóková and Pavel Samiec will be performed in their world premieres, written in response to works by Manuel de Falla and Astor Piazzolla. The third anticipated premiere will be a piece by Matteo Hager, violinist and composer, to whom MenART awarded its Comenium Musicum scholarship, which is providing long-term financial support for his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. His new composition for piano trio gives us the opportunity to hear another original voice from the young generation. Matteo will also be presenting his Violin Sonata.

The Music School Salon makes its own special contribution to the Prague Spring programme: the world of classical music seen through the lens of the youngest performers – people with courage, true dedication, creative fervour and new, fresh energy. Come and support the future of Czech music!”