CULTURAL FESTIVALS

Prague Spring

The Prague Spring International Music Festival, which takes place in late May and early June every year, is a permanent showcase for outstanding performing artists, symphony orchestras and the chamber music ensembles of the world. The first festival was held under the patronage of Czechoslovak president Edward Beneš, and its organizing committee was made up of important figures in Czech musical life. Since 1952 the festival has opened with Bedřich Smetana´s cycle of symphonic poems Má vlast (My Country), and it closes with the famous “Ninth Symphony” of Ludwig van Beethoven.

The festival commemorates important musical anniversaries by including a conceptual selection of works by the composers included within its programme. Only top performers and orchestras are invited to these concerts. The Prague Spring Festival, in contrast to most world festivals, also cares for young performers. A competition of the same name was founded one year after the emergence of the festival and takes place in different instrumental categories every year.

Summer Shakespeare Festival

The Summer Shakespeare Festival stages theatre productions performed outdoors in the courtyard of the Burgrave Palace at the Prague Castle. It was originally initiated by President Václav Havel in 1994. It is an interesting event, which attracts first-rate performers, attention of the media and large audience. During the summer more than 80 performances are staged at the Prague Castle and the outdoor auditorium with a capacity of 600 seats is usually sold out. Plays by William Shakespeare are on the programme exclusively. Foreign ensembles who stage Shakespeare's plays in English are also Regular guests of the festival. The showcase has been enlarged by prestigious photographical exhibitions and generous charitable events in recent years.

Prague Autumn

While the first half of every year is marked with the cultural feast Prague Spring, the autumn season is time for the international music festival Prague Autumn. It emerged in the year 1991 as the first private festival in the domain of classical music in the Czech Republic. Its main objective is to bring excellent international performers to Czech concert halls, to combine their mastery with the skills of local soloists and orchestras and play the most famous works of world romantic music through their instruments.

Prague Autumn always starts with a large vocal and symphonic composition. One evening of the festival is dedicated to Beethoven's legacy, another one is based on the inexhaustible richness of Mozart’s music and the festival traditionally closes with Dvořák's „Cello concert H moll“.