The thirteenth-annual Dvořák Prague International Music Festival will take place from 4 to 20 September 2020. Our dramaturgy will remain faithful to our core programme series, the Dvořák Collection, we are presenting several renowned orchestras from around the world, and there will be no lack of illustrious conductors and soloists. The Czech Philharmonic, the festival’s orchestra-in-residence, will continue introducing works by Dvořák’s friends, contemporaries, and pupils.

Besides the music of Antonín Dvořák, to whom the festival is dedicated, we will be commemorating the 250^th anniversary of the birth of the composer Ludwig van Beethoven by presenting, among other things, his Ninth Symphony with the “Ode to Joy”. Making its premiere in the work will be a new ensemble – the Dvořák Prague Youth Philharmonic, which will be put together at the Orchestral Academy of the Summer Music Academy in Kroměříž. And that is not the only evening when the Dvořák Hall stage will be reserved for youth. The festival will also present the public final round of the competition Concertino Praga, of which the Academy of Classical Music is a co-presenter beginning this year.

The official programme for the 2020 Dvořák Prague Festival is complete and was to be announced on March 24th in conjunction with the start of ticket sales. On March 12th, due to the current health crisis and state of emergency, the Academy of Classical Music decided to postpone the announcement.

Advance booking of tickets to two concerts of the coming season is already available to festival fans. Appearing at the first of them will be one of the festival’s key partners, its orchestra-in-residence, the Czech Philharmonic, which will play Dvořák’s New World Symphony and Cello Concerto. The future will also get an opportunity through an appearance by the Dvořák Prague Youth Philharmonic, which Tomáš Netopil will conduct in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the “Ode to Joy”.

Kaiserštejnský palác
Malostranské nám. 23/37
Praha 1 - Malá Strana

T: +420 775 495 495, E: vstupenky@dvorakovapraha.cz

The Festival Ticket Centre is closed due to the COVID - 19 situation.

We held the first-annual Dvořák Prague Festival in 2008, scheduled in August back in those days, under the artistic direction of its cofounder, the stage director and producer Vladimír Darjanin. The entrepreneur Karel Komárek substantially supported the establishment of the festival. Today, Mr. Komárek is regarded as one of the most important Czech patrons of the arts, and he is a backer of the Dvořák Prague Festival to this day.

When the Prague Autumn Festival closed its doors in 2011, the Dvořák Prague Festival changed to the September time period to which we are now accustomed, which corresponds to the birthday of the composer Antonín Dvořák. Another milestone in festival history came in 2013, when Marek Vrabec took over artistic management of the festival. Under his leadership, the Dvořák Prague Festival began its characteristic programme series. Since 2018, the pianist and manager Jan Simon has been in charge of the festival’s development as the director of programming.

The systematic fostering of Dvořák’s artistic legacy is reflected by more than just the core programme series called the Dvořák Collection. Besides Dvořák’s most famous works, the festival programme regularly includes music from the first decade of Dvořák’s career as a composer. This gives audiences a bettor opportunity to understand how the composer developed, sought his way, and perfected his craft. All of this is seen in the context of his contemporaries as well as of his predecessors and successors. Two memorable examples of presenting Dvořák’s early works are the performances of his first opera Alfred in 2014 and of his first musical setting of the libretto King and Collier in 2019.

Hundreds of artists have appeared at the Dvořák Prague Festival, including Jiří Bělohlávek, Yo-Yo Ma, Zubin Mehta, Gil Shaham, Krystian Zimerman, Neeme Järvi, Ivan Klánský, Midori, Evgeny Kissin, and Andris Nelsons to mention just a few.

Do you love Antonín Dvořák and perceive the value of his artistic legacy, and are you a fan of our festival? There is a seat in our orchestra of friends waiting just for you. We’re always looking for new members who will join with us in letting the symphonies of our hearts (and those of others) be heard. You are very important to us – up to 50% of the festival budget comes from our partners and from you, admirers of Antonín Dvořák’s legacy and fans of the Dvořák Prague Festival.

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