The main goal of the Dvořák Prague International Music Festival has been to promote the good name of Czech culture via the legacy of the works of Antonín Dvořák, his contemporaries, and his pupils. And because the sole measure of the festival's success is quality, only topflight soloists and conductors and the most internationally-acclaimed orchestras and chamber ensembles come together on the Dvořák Prague concert stages, presenting music by Dvořák and other composers of the world to an international audience.
The Karel Ditters International Music Festival from Dittersdorf is a festival that has been held every year since 1993, mainly in the town of Javorník, partly in the town of Jeseník and its surroundings. During this time, it has become an integral part of the cultural autumn of the entire Jesenice region. It is also one of the most significant and significant projects implemented within the Olomouc Region, and its existence thus clearly proves that lively cultural activity does not escape even its northernmost region. Its annual implementation is provided by the Karel Ditters Association of Dittersdorf.
And so every autumn is traditionally carried in the spirit of Baroque sophistication, with which Karel Ditters is undoubtedly closely connected and whose work the entire festival is actually primarily dedicated to. The central idea of the whole festival is an effort to present classical music at the highest professional level to all residents of our border region, as well as to professional audiences. However, Ditters' name is not just a kind of "moral-musical regional authority" in the name of the festival, on the contrary, every year of the festival the compositions of this author appear in the repertoire of many musical ensembles, which is also one of the festival's conditions. Another is the effort to open the festival stage to young and beginning performers, often the winners of the Prague Spring or other competitions. Last but not least, it is also an effort to invite, as, after all, in the name of the festival, musicians from abroad, or at least musical ensembles with the representation of foreign performers, to the festival days.
Horn Fest was created on the initiative of the Czech horn player Radek Baborák, who would like to take this step to contribute to the more than 300-year-old tradition of the Czech horn game. The unifying element of the whole festival is therefore the French horn. As part of the Horn Fest, listeners will be able to listen to the various positions of this instrument, support a diverse instrumental cast and genre, as well as a very varied program. They will be able to see for themselves that the French horn is not just an instrument of love, but mainly a melodic instrument with an infinite number of color scales, just a great understanding of both wind instruments and strings!
The Antonín Dvořák Music Festival boasts a long tradition, during which its organizers managed to establish it among high-level cultural events and, in the venues, of paramount importance. It was established in 1969 on the initiative of the Antonín Dvořák Society (then chaired by Dr. Karel Mikys) and the District Cultural Center in Příbram, to which the Ministry of Culture promised financial support at the time. And the support was by no means small, because at that time it made it possible to invite such orchestras as the Czech Philharmonic, the FOK Symphony Orchestra of the Capital City of Prague, the PKO, the Slovak Philharmonic or the Film Symphony Orchestra. During these years, however, the festival also included a number of excellent ensembles from abroad. The people of Příbram were also able to witness top performances such as the Leningrad Philharmonic and the Moscow State Philharmonic, and last but not least, the Warsaw State Philharmonic or the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London with conductors Mark Emler, Charles Groves, Arvid Jansons and Dimitri Kitajen. After 1989, however, similarly as in the whole cultural sphere, significant organizational changes took place here. Since 1990, the organization Příbram Theater has taken over its organization, where (perhaps) due to the lack of financial resources, the festival stuck to three to five concerts, mostly only chamber music.
This festival, organized by the Prague Spring, is dedicated to the celebration of the piano and the figure of the greatest Czech pianist of the 20th century, Rudolf Firkušný, who was also very closely connected with the Prague Spring.
The Early Music Summer Festival is the largest and longest-running early music festival in Prague. Since 2000, the festival has been the gateway through which top foreign performers flow to the Czech Republic, playing originals or copies of historical instruments while maintaining the highest demands for perfection of performance, which we are used to with modern instruments.
The thematically elaborated dramaturgy of individual years presents a number of compositions in modern premieres, not only in the Czech but also often in a global context. The festival is unique in its overlap with Baroque theater and dance. One of the advantages of the festival is the connection of beautiful architecture with music of appropriate styles.
Concerts and performances held regularly, for example, in the Břevnov Monastery, Troja Castle, Rudolfinum, the Lobkowicz Palace, in the interiors of lesser-known Prague churches and other Prague historical spaces.
The festival is a member of the European REMA network and is a proud holder of the prestigious EFFE Label 2017-2021 and the "exceptional festival" label.
