Prague Spring

Franz Liszt and Marie d’Agoult. Two years of love, which gave birth to the Years of Pilgrimage

Iva Nevoralova — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:01:24 +0000

Sunny Italy became home to two lovers – Franz Liszt and Marie d’Agoult – between 1837 and 1839. Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples, Milan – it was in all these places that Liszt found inspiration during that time for the second volume of his piano cycle Years of Pilgrimage. Whilst the final part Fantasia quasi sonata “Après une lecture du Dante” was loosely inspired by The Divine Comedy, the opening two movements draw on the art of Raffael Santi and Michelangelo Buonarroti.

The mood of the first movement, Sposalizio (The Wedding), was inspired by the soft light in Raffael Santi’s painting The Marriage of the Virgin. All the elements in this painting are arranged in mathematically precise proportions to one another, organised according to a clear hierarchy, and with such precision that experts speculate as to the existence of a wooden model.

The second part, Il Penseroso (The Thinker), is inspired by Michelangelo Buonarroti’s sculpture La Notte (The Night), which adorns the Medici tomb in the Church of San Lorenzo in Florence. The statue that looks as if it is sleeping, gained fame not only for its beauty but also thanks to an ode by the Florentine nobleman Giovanbattista Strozzi (1504–1571), in which he urges it to awaken:

Night in so sweet an attitude beheld
Asleep, was by an angel sculptured
In this stone; and sleeping, is alive;
Waken her, doubter; she will speak to thee.

Michelangelo accepted this “literary challenge” and replied to Strozzi in verse as well:

Sweet is my sleep, but more to be mere stone,
So long as ruin and dishonour reign;
To bear nought, to feel nought, is my great gain;
Then wake me not, speak in an undertone!

Don’t miss the captivating Years of Pilgrimage, performed by the outstanding young Austrian pianist Lukas Sternath! 5 November at the Rudolfinum.

A recording of Smetana’s Libuše from the 2024 Prague Spring Festival is being released on the Supraphon label

Iva Nevoralova — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0000

On Friday 18 September, Supraphon will release the long-awaited recording of the concert performance of the opera Libuše by Bedřich Smetana from the 2024 Prague Spring Festival. In the title role stars soprano Kateřina Kněžíková, conductor Jakub Hrůša leads the Czech Philharmonic, the Prague Philharmonic Choir and other leading soloists. Maestro Hrůša says about Libuše: “Smetana truly incorporated some of the very best he was capable of creating into the score. In this sense, Libuše is one of his masterpieces. Alongside its monumentality, it features full-blooded, dramatic operatic music that I would, without hesitation, rank among the very best composed in European opera culture at that time – relatively shortly after the mid-19th century.”

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

Summer Special 🚲 Franz Schubert: a passionate traveller and solitary wanderer

Iva Nevoralova — Sun, 30 Aug 2026 16:30:00 +0000

Lukas Sternath’s concert on 5 November at the Rudolfinum is dedicated to the theme of the pilgrimage. Franz Schubert’s monumental Wandererfantasie will also be performed.

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!

Summer is coming to an end; we hope you’ve enjoyed it just as much as we have! Where has the Prague Spring been travelling?

Iva Nevoralova — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 15:18:51 +0000

The Prague Spring has travelled far and wide this year, to all sorts of corners of the world! From the Czech mountains, rivers, castles and chateaux, via the Baltic Sea, Switzerland and Ireland, all the way to distant Seoul! Our curious Prague Spring bag even found its way to Europe’s largest private technical museum “Sinsheim Speyer” in Germany… Enjoy our summer photo gallery!

Summer Special 🚲 Fryderyk Chopin, George Sand and their holidays in Nohant

Iva Nevoralova — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 16:30:00 +0000

Until their break-up in 1847, Fryderyk Chopin spent most of the summer months with his lover, George Sand, at her country estate in Nohant, France, about 400 km south of Paris in the Centre-Val de Loire region. Those six years together were undoubtedly among the happiest moments of Chopin’s life since 1830, when he was forced to stay in exile. In 1844, whilst in Nohant, he composed one of his most important works of that period – the Sonata in B minor, which Anna Vinnitskaya will perform on 7 November at the Rudolf Firkušný Piano Festival.

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’.

On the 112th anniversary of Rafael Kubelík’s birth, we entrusted 80 years of the Prague Spring’s history to the care of the National Archives

Iva Nevoralova — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 17:18:30 +0000

The National Archives manages approximately 135 kilometers of archival documents. As of June 29, 25 meters of that belong to us! On the very day we commemorated the 112th anniversary of the birth of Rafael Kubelík, conductor and founder of the Prague Spring, we took a major step toward preserving our country’s cultural heritage. We handed over 25 metres (200 boxes) of archival materials documenting 80 years of the Prague Spring Festival to the care of the National Archives. The agreement was signed by Robert Hanč, director of the Prague Spring, and Milan Vojáček, director of the National Archives. As of today, the materials are available to both researchers and the general public.

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

Today, June 29, Rafael Kubelík, the founder of the Prague Spring Festival, would have turned 112 ❤️

Iva Nevoralova — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 07:30:00 +0000

Let’s remember him in this unique video, in which Sir Simon Rattle and the musicians of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra – of which he was chief conductor for eighteen years – pay tribute to him.

How do you get young people into concert halls? Invite piano duo Lucas and Arthur Jussen!

Iva Nevoralova — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 06:42:47 +0000

As part of this year’s Prague Spring Festival, we organised a public dress rehearsal for children from across the Czech Republic. On 3 June at the Rudolfinum, their musical guides were pianists Lucas and Arthur Jussen, the outstanding percussion duo Alexej Gerassimez and Emil Kuyumcuyan, and presenters Klára Boudalová and Tereza Dubsky. For most of the nearly 500 children in attendance, it was their very first concert. And we would happily bet that it won’t be their last!

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.

Winner of the 2013 Prague Spring Competition, organist Karol Mossakowski, to perform in the St Vitus Organ Octave series

Iva Nevoralova — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 06:31:16 +0000

As part of the St Vitus Organ Octave series celebrating the blessing of the new St Vitus Cathedral organ, Prague Spring will present a recital by Karol Mossakowski in St Vitus Cathedral on 18 June. Winner of the 2013 Prague Spring International Music Competition, titular organist of Saint-Sulpice in Paris and currently one of the world’s leading organists, Mossakowski performs in the most prestigious concert halls, including the Berlin Philharmonie, the Philharmonie de Paris and the Elbphilharmonie, as well as in the cathedrals of Vienna, Milan and Cologne. Mossakowski will demonstrate the extraordinary beauty of the instrument’s sound and the rich tonal and technical possibilities of the new St Vitus organ in a programme combining the monumental polyphonic music of Max Reger, the dreamlike musical landscapes of the French composer and war hero Jehan Alain, the restless Moto ostinato from Sunday Music by the internationally renowned Czech composer Petr Eben, and Charles-Marie Widor’s Symphony No. 5, in which the French master demonstrated that the organ, rightly known as the king of instruments, can rival a symphony orchestra in both sonic richness and colouristic variety.

The concert is reserved exclusively for donors who have contributed to the restoration of the St Vitus Cathedral organ.

Listen to these radio recordings from Prague Spring 2026 concerts

Iva Nevoralova — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 07:25:27 +0000

Although the festival has now come to an end, we have a few suggestions for how you can revisit some of the most memorable moments of Prague Spring 2026.

Echo of the Prague Spring

On Prague Spring’s YouTube channel and on Czech Television’s iVysílání platform, you can watch short reports from most festival concerts. You can also revisit your favourite artists through the photo galleries available on our website.

Recordings from Prague Spring 2026 concerts

🎧 Barbara Hannigan & Czech Philharmonic (available until July 4, 2026)
Programme

🎧 Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin / Tomáš Hanus / Yuya Mizuno
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🎧 Hector Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust (available until June 23, 2026)
Programme

🎧 Patricia Kopatchinskaja / Jakub Hrůša / Czech Philharmonic (available until June 18, 2026)
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🎧 Jakub Jan Ryba’s Stabat Mater and the modern premiere of Antonio Casimir Cartellieri’s oratorio La Purificazione di Maria Virgine performed by the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra
Programme

As part of the Futurissimo programme, you can also listen on 28 June and 11 July to a recording of Ensemble Modern’s Prague Offspring concert of 30 May and a recording of the world premiere of Michael Nejtek’s Die Hintergedanken.