“This programme invites the listener on a journey across Europe through some of the most beautiful and expressive music ever written for the lute. From the profound melancholy of John Dowland, to the bold and inventive writing of Girolamo Kapsberger, the refined elegance of Robert de Visée and Marin Marais, and culminating in the transcendence of Johann Sebastian Bach, this recital reveals the extraordinary range of colours and emotions that the lute can offer. Each piece is a window into the soul of its time, showcasing the instrument’s poetic voice and its timeless power to move us. I’m very much looking forward to sharing this music with the audience in Prague,” says French lutenist Thomas Dunford, describing his debut recital at the Prague Spring. This affable artist, who has given debuts in London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Berliner Philharmonie and the Philharmonie de Paris, will guide us through European Renaissance and Baroque music from a time when the sound of a fragile instrument evoking both melancholy and joy delighted kings and simple townspeople alike. In Prague you’ll be able to savour it in the ideal acoustic environment of St Agnes’ Convent.

Paris native Thomas Dunford is one of the most sought-after lute players on the scene today. He discovered this uncommon instrument at the age of nine, he continued his studies at the Paris Conservatoire and then attended the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland, where he was taught by celebrated lutenist Hopkinson Smith. He also attended masterclasses with such names as Rolf Lislevand, Julian Bream and Paul O’Dette. In 2003 he gave his first performances playing the role of the lutenist in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night on stage at the Comédie-Française. Since that time he has appeared in some of the world’s most prestigious venues and he collaborates with the finest period instrument ensembles, among them the Academy of Ancient Music and Pygmalion. In 2018 he established his own Jupiter Ensemble where, with considerable open-mindedness, he presents a repertoire spanning an arc from Vivaldi to songs by The Beatles. His regular chamber partners include the harpsichordist Jean Rondeau, one of the discoveries of the Prague Spring 2023. Thomas Dunford’s critically acclaimed recordings are released under the Alpha Classics and Erato labels and he also collaborated on the album Bill and Friends for harmonia mundi where, together with other “friends”, he played alongside legendary conductor and harpsichordist William Christie. He performed at the Prague Spring in 2014 as a member of the famous French ensemble Les Arts Florissants.

At the concert in May 2026, his Prague Spring debut as a soloist, Thomas Dunford will present a cross-section of the most exquisite lute repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The evening will begin with a selection of works by one of the most renowned lutenists of the Elizabethan and early Stuart eras, John Dowland (1563–1626). We will hear the famous pavane Lachrimae with its well-known “weeping” motif; The King of Denmark’s Galliard, whose dotted rhythms and repeated notes imitate the sound of military drums and marching soldiers; and the enigmatic Frog Galliard, which became the model for the song Now, o now, I needs must part, about the ugly Duke of Alençon, one of Queen Elizabeth I’s suitors. The programme also offers music by composers associated with sunny Italy: the temperamental Calata alla Spagnola by Joan Ambrosio Dalza (?–1508) and the richly ornamented Toccata by Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger (1580–1651). We travel to France to hear music by Robert de Visée (1652–1725), lutenist at the court of Louis XIV and Louis XV, and Marin Marais (1656–1728), who was not only a productive composer, but also the father of nineteen children. From the latter’s oeuvre we will hear the piece Les voix humaines, a wonderful work of understated sincerity and depth, a “chant de mémoire”, as aptly described by leading viola da gamba player Paul Rousseau. The programme will end with Dunford’s own transcription of the violin Chaccone from Partita in D minor BWV 1004 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), of which Johannes Brahms wrote: “On one stave, for a small instrument, the man [Bach] writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings. If I imagined that I could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excitement and earth-shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind.” As a matter of interest, you can hear the same piece in an arrangement by Ferruccio Busoni during Jan Schulmeister’s recital at the Convent of St Agnes on 23 May. With Thomas Dunford, however, you won’t experience the kind of sweeping gestures from Busoni that were typical for the close of the 19th century, but instead tender caresses from the eras of the Renaissance and the Baroque.

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.

The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO), according to prestigious international rankings one of the three greatest orchestras in the world, gave a superb concert of Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 at the Prague Spring in 2023. With this performance still fresh in our minds, the ensemble is returning to the festival, now with its new Chief Conductor, Sir Simon Rattle. Together they will present two programmes in Prague on 14 and 15 May. Their first concert will feature supreme symphonies by two Viennese classics – Joseph Haydn and Johannes Brahms and the Czech premiere of the piece Where are You? by Ondřej Adámek, whose solo part was written specifically for mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená. “Ondrej is a great composer. In Where are You? he creates a gripping drama about the search for God with quasi-ritual traits,” states Sir Simon Rattle. In this work Adámek treats texts from the Bible, from the sacred Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita, also from the autobiography of St Teresa of Ávila, and even the Moravian folk song Kdo víno pije, muzice platí (He who drinks wine pays for the music). In addition to Where are You? the programme also includes Brahms’s last symphony, the Fourth, with its imposing closing Passacaglia, and the majestic Symphony No. 86 from the cycle of “Paris” symphonies by Joseph Haydn, whose humorous and universal spirit Simon Rattle describes as “an eternal elixir”.