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The festival will traditionally open with Má vlast (My Country) by Bedřich Smetana. “Má vlast is not about blind nationalism. It was written with a genuine and utterly disarming love for one’s homeland,” says Petr Popelka, chief conductor and music director of the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Popelka, who has recorded a number of works with the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, including a critically acclaimed triple album of Bedřich Smetana’s orchestral music, has repeatedly won high praise not only at home but also abroad. “The beauty of Popelka’s Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra performance lies in the fact that, although there is tension in every movement, the sound always remains transparent, so this most vibrant masterpiece never sounds rigid,” wrote the British magazine Gramophone, awarding the recording its Editor’s Choice distinction.
The opening concert, conducted by Popelka, also brings together two anniversaries: 80 years since the establishment of the Prague Spring Festival and 100 years since the founding of the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Top orchestras and festival debuts
According to Prague Spring’s artistic director Josef Třeštík, the 2026 edition is exceptional for its large-scale vocal-instrumental projects: „We will also welcome a number of top orchestras, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, which is closely associated with Prague Spring founder Rafael Kubelík. After 52 years, Martha Argerich will return to the festival, and after three years we can once again look forward to Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä.“
The festival will also present a recital by Eric Lu, the recent winner of the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, and there will be many festival debuts, particularly from leading international opera stars. Among those appearing at the festival for the first time are Elīna Garanča, Benjamin Bernheim and Kang Wang.
Artist-in-residence Barbara Hannigan
This year, the Canadian soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan will be the Prague Spring 2026 artist-in-residence.
Hannigan is one of the most original artists of the 21st century. As a singer, she has premiered more than one hundred works. She is principal guest conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, artistic partner of the London Symphony Orchestra, first guest artist of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and in autumn 2026 she will become chief conductor and artistic director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.
Her exceptional artistic profile is complemented by numerous prestigious awards, including Gramophone magazine’s Artist of the Year and the 2025 Polar Music Prize, a Swedish music award founded by ABBA’s publisher and manager Stig Anderson, which she received alongside jazz musician Herbie Hancock and the band Queen. In 2025, she was also named Musical America’s Artist of the Year.
Video of „Just ask me about anything.“ Barbara Hannigan o životě a o své rezidenci na Pražském jaru 2026
Festival connecting tradition with modernity
The Prague Spring festival is a platform that each year offers audiences the very best from both the international and domestic classical music scene, and alongside the biggest stars, it also presents the most talented young musicians at the start of their artistic careers. „The 81st edition of the festival will continue in this tradition, with a programme once again spanning musical development from the Renaissance to the works of contemporary composers,” says festival director Milan Němeček.
The 81st Prague Spring International Music Festival will take place from 12 May to 4 June 2026 and will offer more than sixty events, including 38 concerts, 19 workshops and masterclasses, and 7 accompanying events, including the traditional Prague Spring Art Salon exhibition. In the year marking 80 years since the festival’s founding, it will feature 97 artists, chamber ensembles, and orchestras from 28 countries around the world.
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