About
The Prague Spring International Music Festival 2026 invites you to experience classical music in one of Europe’s most beautiful and culturally resonant cities. From 12 May to 3 June 2026, Prague becomes a stage for extraordinary musical encounters, where historic concert halls, Gothic architecture, and artistic excellence create an atmosphere unlike any other in the classical world.
The 81st edition of the festival presents more than sixty events, bringing together leading orchestras, conductors, soloists, and chamber ensembles from across the globe. The programme spans centuries of musical history — from Haydn and Mozart to contemporary composers — while remaining deeply rooted in the festival’s tradition of artistic refinement and innovation.
One of the defining artistic figures of the 2026 season is Barbara Hannigan, who appears as the festival’s Artist-in-Residence. Her residency includes four concerts and a masterclass, making her one of the central creative voices of Prague Spring 2026.
Hannigan also collaborates with the Czech Philharmonic in two major orchestral projects, including the Czech premiere of Francis Poulenc’s La Voix humaine, where she appears simultaneously as soprano and conductor in a visually immersive production with live video elements.
Her second orchestral programme combines works by Charles Ives, Joseph Haydn, Arnold Schoenberg, and George Gershwin in a daring and imaginative musical dialogue.
Another highlight of the residency is a chamber collaboration with the acclaimed Belcea Quartet, featuring music by Webern, Mozart, Hindemith, and Schoenberg.
Beyond Hannigan’s residency, the festival welcomes an outstanding constellation of artists and ensembles. Conductors such as Jakub Hrůša, Tomáš Netopil, Daniele Gatti, and Klaus Mäkelä shape the orchestral programme with distinctive artistic vision. The festival also features performances by Elīna Garanča, Benjamin Bernheim, and Patricia Kopatchinskaja, whose appearances add brilliance and emotional intensity to the season.
What makes the Prague Spring Festival truly unforgettable is its atmosphere. Music resonates through the Rudolfinum, the Municipal House, and Prague’s historic theatres with a sense of intimacy and grandeur that feels inseparable from the city itself. Every evening becomes a meeting point between tradition and discovery, elegance and artistic freedom.
The Prague Spring International Music Festival 2026 is more than a concert series — it is an invitation to experience classical music at the highest level, surrounded by the timeless beauty of Prague.
About the Prague Spring International Music Festival
The Prague Spring International Music Festival is a classical music festival held every year in Prague, Czech Republic, with symphony orchestras and chamber music ensembles from around the world.
The first festival was held in 1946 under the patronage of Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš, and its organizing committee was made up of important figures in Czech musical life. In that year, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra was celebrating its fiftieth anniversary and was therefore granted to appear in all of the orchestral concerts. The project was initiated by Rafael Kubelík, chief conductor of the orchestra at the time. Such musicians as Karel Ančerl, Leonard Bernstein, Sir Adrian Boult, Rudolf Firkušný, Jaroslav Krombholc, Rafael Kubelík, Moura Lympany, Yevgeny Mravinsky, Charles Münch, Ginette Neveu, Jarmila Novotná, Lev Oborin, David Oistrakh, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi and Jan Panenka have appeared at the festival. Since 1952, the festival has opened on 12 May, the anniversary of the death of Bedřich Smetana, with his cycle of symphonic poems Má vlast (My Country), and it used to close (until 2003) with Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.
The festival commemorates important musical anniversaries by including works by the composers concerned on its programmes, and presents Czech as well as world premieres of compositions by contemporary authors. Artists and orchestras who performed at the festival include Sviatoslav Richter, Lorin Maazel, Herbert von Karajan, Mstislav Rostropovich, Julian Lloyd Webber, Boris Pergamenschikow, Lucia Popp, Kim Borg, Sir Colin Davis, Maurice André, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Leonid Kogan, Paul Klecki, Gustav Leonhardt, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Giovanni Bellucci, Alfred Brendel, Heinrich Schiff, Leopold Stokowski, Arthur Honegger, Arthur Rubinstein, and Gennady Rozhdestvensky.
Prague Spring's traditional venue is the Rudolfinum concert hall, a neo-renaissance building situated on the bank of the Vltava River. It is complemented by Prague's ornate Municipal House (Obecní dům), which has a larger seating capacity.
The Prague Spring has a particular focus on supporting younger performers. The Prague Spring International Music Competition was established just one year after the festival itself and is held each year in various instrumental sections. The list of past winners of competition includes Mstislav Rostropovich, Saša Večtomov, Natalia Gutman, James Galway and Maurice Bourgue.
