The artistic direction and programme of the Prague Spring remain entirely within the remit of the festival’s management. The programme for the 2027 Prague Spring will be released on 3 November.

“I am very pleased that works by Czech and Slovak composers, commissioned by the Prague Spring, will be performed as part of such a significant event as the Frankfurt Book Fair. I see the Prague Spring as an ambassador not only of traditional but also of contemporary Czech music, consistently supporting domestic composers through its commissions and giving them a valuable opportunity to engage with top international creative output. For many of them, this represents another valuable professional experience and an opportunity to gain wider international recognition. At the same time, I am already looking forward to May 2027, when Ensemble Modern’s three-year residency at Prague Offspring will culminate as part of the 82^nd Prague Spring Festival, with another exciting series of concerts featuring five world premieres and three Czech premieres,” says Robert Hanč, Director of the Prague Spring Festival.

The concert in Frankfurt am Main will be conducted by Ustina Dubitsky, who works with the Bavarian State Opera and the orchestra Les Siècles, among others. The concert is part of the programme of the Year of Czech Culture in German-speaking Countries, which runs from October 2025 to December 2026 in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

All of us at the Prague Spring Festival are delighted that this brilliant, musically speaking performance of Smetana’s Libuše has been captured on an audio recording, and that along with this recording, a bit of the thrilling atmosphere of the Prague Spring Festival concerts will reach you.

The set contains three CDs which you can already order at a reduced pre-order price here. From 18 September, it will also be available on streaming platforms via this link.

The performance of Libuše at the 2024 Prague Spring Festival was part of the Smetana200 project.

Libuše at the 2024 Prague Spring Festival © Ivan Malý

In Schubert’s works, the traveller is a lonely, wandering outsider trapped within his own inner world. However, the native Viennese’s fascination with the theme of travel may have been driven by a completely different motivation than mere lack of recognition, failing health and Prince Metternich’s repressive regime. For he was, in fact, a passionate traveller!

He left us a detailed travelogue of one of his holiday journeys in 1825 through the Austrian Salzkammergut region in his correspondence with his parents. In one of the letters, he writes: ‘I spent six weeks in Gmunden, whose surroundings are truly divine, and just like its inhabitants – particularly the lovely Traweger – it moved me deeply and did me a world of good.’

Together with his friend, the singer Johann Michael Vogel, they undertook excursions in the surrounding area, went on boat trips and played music practically every day at the home of their host, Ferdinand Traweger. Schubert also worked here on his Great Symphony in C major, which was admired by a number of Czech composers, including Bedřich Smetana, Antonín Dvořák and the young Leoš Janáček. It was not performed until eleven years after Schubert’s death, when Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy conducted it with his Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig in 1839.

If you’re an artistic soul, the Salzkammergut is highly recommended. Arnold Schönberg composed his first piece using the dodecaphonic technique here by Lake Traunsee, whilst the area around Lake Attersee was a favourite of Gustav Mahler and Gustav Klimt. So, if you’re looking to compose a symphony or paint a magnificent painting, the Salzkammergut is the perfect destination!

In the house, built in the Louis XV style, Chopin’s room had special soundproof shutters and heavily padded doors so that the maestro could compose undisturbed during the day, whilst George usually slept after a sleepless night. Although he appeared at first glance to be a gentle man, he often succumbed to fits of rage and despair, during which he would throw himself on the floor, scream, tear up his manuscripts, pound the keys and claim that he had no talent and would never compose anything worthwhile.

You can still visit George Sand’s house in Nohant today, where the Polish composer spent some of the happiest years of his life. And if you’re lucky, you’ll be served fresh rolls ‘à la George Sand’.

What exactly have we made available?

🎶 programme notes from 1946–2024
🎶 publications, press releases, and documentary materials from 1946–2019
🎶 newspaper clippings of Czech and international media from 1957–2014
🎶 annual reports from 2009–2023
🎶 final reports from 2020–2024
🎶 contracts with individual artists and artistic ensembles from 2002–2014
🎶 posters for individual concerts from 2014–2022

Many thanks to the pupils of Kyjovice Primary School for their wonderful feedback!
🎶 Thank you so much – it was really exciting. I’ve never been to a better concert.
🎶 My favourite thing about the trip to Prague was the concert, especially the drums.
🎶 Thank you for letting us come to the concert. I really liked the quieter parts.
🎶 I was really looking forward to the trip to Prague, and the concert was the best part. The piano playing was absolutely amazing – I wish I could play like that. I also loved how the percussionists performed with the little robot.
🎶 I really enjoyed the chats with the musicians.
🎶 It was awesome that we got to hear the best piano duo in the world live.
🎶 I loved how perfectly together all the musicians were.
🎶 My favourite bit was when the percussionists were playing all sorts of different objects.
🎶 Dear musicians, I loved everything, but my favourite part was Alex and Emil’s drumming. I liked how they played with toys and all kinds of different things. I really, really enjoyed it. From B.
🎶 Thank you for the dress rehearsal!
Dear drummists and pianists, Lucas and Arthur. You really rock on the piano! Alex and Emil, the things you come up with are incredible. A mixer, a wind-up toy – honestly, how do you even think of that? Thank you for the whole concert. We’re from the Czech Republic, and even in Ostrava we don’t have audiences as well behaved as this one. Your concert moved me so much I almost cried. With great admiration, MK

The project was organised in cooperation with the Helping Schools Succeed programme, which forms part of the activities of The Kellner Family Foundation.