Record-breaking 80th Prague Spring Festival

The landmark 80th edition of the Prague Spring International Music Festival recorded the highest attendance and ticket revenue in the festival’s history. A total of over 30,000 visitors attended 76 events, including workshops, masterclasses, and accompanying programmes. The festival achieved a 95% occupancy rate, and ticket sales reached CZK 36.2 million – exceeding last year’s record revenues by nearly CZK 11 million. Thirty-four events were sold out, including all major symphonic concerts.

“Prague Spring offered audiences world-class performances of music spanning from the Renaissance to the 21st century. The orchestral series was particularly fascinating, delivering unforgettable interpretations from both visiting and Czech ensembles. Chamber orchestras, too, drew great interest, especially with their historically informed performances of 17th- and 18th-century repertoire. I would also like to highlight the residency of violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, whose versatility, originality, and extraordinary energy made her appearance at Prague Spring nothing short of revelatory for our audiences. I am delighted that audiences were equally enthusiastic about chamber recitals by young Czech artists, as well as the premieres of Czech and Slovak composers within the Prague Offspring series, performed brilliantly by this year’s new resident, Ensemble Modern. The concerts of the 80th edition had a truly magical atmosphere, and in nearly every case, artists were rewarded with standing ovations. It was an exceptionally successful, beautiful, and high-energy festival – one that I daresay will live long in the hearts and minds of many music lovers,” said the festival’s Director Pavel Trojan.

Among the highlights of the orchestral series were the performances of the Boston, Chicago and London Symphony Orchestras with conductors Andris Nelsons, Jaap van Zweden and Sir Antonio Pappano; the NHK Symphony Orchestra under Fabio Luisi; the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Petr Popelka; and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under Santtu-Matias Rouvali. From the Czech ensembles, standout performances came from the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra under debut conductor Jan Sedláček and the Prague Symphony Orchestra under Robert Jindra. The Czech Philharmonic also made its mark on the festival’s history, both opening this edition in grand style with Smetana’s My Country and bringing it to a triumphant close with Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand, both under the baton of Chief Conductor Semyon Bychkov. Audiences responded with standing ovations to the debut performances of Kammerakademie Potsdam with Antonello Manacorda and the French Ensemble Correspondances led by Sébastien Daucé. Concentus Musicus Wien also returned to the festival to great acclaim, conducted by Tomáš Netopil. In total, the festival presented ten world premieres and featured works by composers including Dmitri Shostakovich, Tōru Takemitsu, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Alban Berg, Gustav Mahler, Béla Bartók, Leonard Bernstein, Sergei Prokofiev, Arnold Schoenberg, František Xaver Richter, and Luboš Fišer.

This year’s Prague Spring was not confined to traditional concert halls. On 11 and 12 May, in partnership with its general partner ČEZ Group, the festival presented a free public programme in the ČEZ Open Air Zone in front of the Rudolfinum, which included a live broadcast of the opening concert from the Smetana Hall of the Municipal House. Another great success was the family day SpringTEEN, held at the St Agnes’ Convent in collaboration with ABB Czech Republic and the National Gallery Prague. More than 800 tickets were sold for this event, with dozens more attending the free programmes. This year’s festival offered a total of 46 concerts, 16 educational workshops and masterclasses, and 12 artist meet-and-greet events.

In cooperation with Czech Radio, live broadcasts were aired of concerts on 12 May (Smetana: My Country), 19 May (Arvo Pärt 90), 28 May (Prague Spring Debut), and 30 May (Ensemble Modern I), with additional live or recorded broadcasts shared through the EBU network in Spain, Poland, Romania, Croatia, South Korea, Belgium, Portugal, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Estonia. As is tradition, Czech Television broadcast the opening concert live on 12 May and recorded the concerts on 19 May (Arvo Pärt 90) and 26 May (Fragments of Love). For the first time, the festival also livestreamed the opening concert on its official Facebook profile.

Prague Spring Art Salon charity auction raises CZK 1,180,000

As part of the 93rd auction held by KODL Gallery on 25 May at Žofín Palace, works by renowned contemporary Czech artists Josef Bolf, Martin Krajc, Anna Neborová, Rony Plesl, Jakub Tomáš, and Michael Rittstein were auctioned in support of Prague Spring’s artistic projects, raising a total of CZK 1,180,000. The auctioned works were on public display for the duration of the festival to all concertgoers at the Rudolfinum and the Municipal House.

Partners of Prague Spring 2025

The festival extends its sincere thanks to the partners of Prague Spring, without whose financial support the event would have not been possible. The 2025 partnership structure was formed by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the City of Prague, general partner ČEZ Group, main partner Doosan Škoda Power a.s., festival partner innogy Česká republika a.s., and technology partner CETIN, Česká telekomunikační infrastruktura a. s. Individual concerts were supported by FNC Technology Co., Ltd., Allianz pojišťovna a.s., ABB Czech Republic, and Philip Morris ČR. Czech Television served as the festival’s general media partner, Czech Radio as the main media partner, and Economia a.s. as the media partner for print and online media. The official festival car was Mercedes-Benz Czech Republic. The festival’s general partner, ČEZ Group, also supported the Prague Spring International Music Competition through the ČEZ Foundation. Special thanks go to the Friends of Prague Spring, the festival’s patrons’ club bringing together individual and corporate donors.

Prague Spring 2026

The programme for the 81st edition of the Prague Spring International Music Festival will be announced on 4 November 2025, with ticket sales opening the following day, 5 November 2025.