Those interested in active participation can apply by sending a CV (max. 900 characters) to the email address stehlikova@dvorakovapraha.cz no later than by 31 July 2023. The age limit for participants is 25.

Public masterclasses are yet another way that the Academy of Classical Music at the Dvořák Prague Festival is working to promote the education of musicians. As an auxiliary programme in the series For the Future, it gives young musicians the chance to play before exceptional artists and to consult on their views on the interpretation of a work with performers who have invaluable experience on the world’s great stages. A masterclass is a unique opportunity for the public to witness the final phase of preparing an interpretation. Rather than a usual lesson, it is an exchange of artistic opinions. It gives an exciting insight into the final phase of a young artist’s preparation before the moment when her or she appears in the concert arena with a finished interpretive conception in order to share an artistic opinion with the public.

Sarah Willis will be guiding young hornists through the world of selected music works on 14 Sept. 2023 at 14 p.m. at the Martinů Hall.

You can buy tickets to a masterclass here for CZK 200. Ticket prices are reduced by 50% for students at elementary schools of the arts, conservatoires, the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, and students at other schools of the arts. To get the discount code, please contact us at vstupenky@dvorakovapraha.cz

“The horn is for boys,” Sarah Willis' schoolteacher told her, suggesting she learn the flute or the oboe instead. That remark became a challenge for the US-born Brit, who grew up in Tokyo, Boston, Moscow, and London. She had her first horn lesson at the age of 14.

After three years studying on the Performer’s Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, Sarah continued her training with Fergus McWilliam in Berlin. From 1991 to 2001, she was a member of the Staatskapelle Berlin, and in 2001, she became the first female brass player to win a position with the Berlin Philharmonic. She has performed with many leading orchestras and appears regularly as a soloist and chamber musician around the world. Her acclaimed recordings include Mozart y Mambo, a fusion of classical and Cuban rhythms.

Passionate about music education, Sarah makes full use of digital technology and social media to reach audiences worldwide. She teaches at the Berlin Philharmonic Karajan Academy and especially enjoys creating and presenting Berlin Philharmonic Family Concerts.

A regular broadcaster and interviewer on TV and online, she also hosted the classical music programme Sarah’s Music for Deutsche Welle TV for several years.

Sarah’s contributions to classical music were recognised at the highest level in the UK when she was made an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in the Queen’s 2021 Birthday Honours List for her services to charity and the promotion of classical music.

source: Andreas Richter Cultural Consulting

The Bohuslav Martinů Concert Hall is part of the historic Liechtenstein Palace, which is located directly opposite St Nicholas’s Church at the upper end of Malostranské náměstí (Lesser Town Square). With capacity for an audience of 200, it is used primarily for more intimate cultural events and for graduation recitals. Since 1993, the Liechtenstein Palace has been the site of the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.