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The Pardubice Music Spring International Festival has been an important cultural event in the East Bohemian region since 1978. Since 2013, the festival has been organized by Barocco semper giovane, o.p.s. The festival offers music of all stylistic periods, the genre is mainly focused on classical music. Approximately twenty concerts take place every year from the beginning of March to the middle of May in concert halls and monuments of the city of Pardubice and other cities in the region. The festival presents important domestic and foreign artists, chamber ensembles, symphony orchestras, opera and ballet ensembles.

Since 2013, they have performed at the Pardubice Music Spring, for example, the Prague Symphony Orchestra. Prague FOK, Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, PKF - Prague Philharmonia, Pardubice Chamber Philharmonic, Collegium 1704, Ensemble Inégal and Barocco semper giovane with conductors Heiko Mathias Förster (Germany), Shalev Ad-El (Israel), Petr Altrichter, Václav Luks , Adam Viktora, Tomáš Brauner, Jan Kučera, Marko Ivanović, Marek Šedivý, opera ensemble of the FX Šalda Theater Liberec, ballet ensembles of the Slovak National Theater and Moravian Theater Olomouc, Wihan Quartet, Herold Quartet, GUITAR4MATION - Guitar Quartet (Austria), Five Star Clarinet Quartet, Ciganski diabli (Slovakia), Ondřej Havelka and his Melody Makers, Prague Cello Quartet, Guarneri trio, Smetana trio, violinists Giuliano Carmignola (Italy), Václav Hudeček, Josef Špaček, Jan Mráček, Jiří Vodička, Leoš Čepický and Pavel Šporcl , cellists Jiří Bárta and Tomáš Jamník, pianists Ivo Kahánek, Piers Lane (Great Britain), Igor Ardašev, Adam Skoumal, Jitka Čechová, Nozomi Nakagiri and Yuka Beppu (Japan) , harpsichordists and organists Stéphane Bécha (France), Shalev Ad-El (Israel), Jaroslav Tůma, Aleš Bárta, Pavel Svoboda, further eg flutist Yoshimi Oshima (Japan), clarinetist Ludmila Peterková, trumpeter Oliver Lakota (Germany), tenor Štefan Margita and Petr Nekoranec and many other artists.

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The Smetana’s Litomyšl festival is the second oldest music festival in the Czech Republic, and at the same time it is among the largest regular classical music festivals held in the country.

It mainly features opera performances and concerts, as well as gala concerts, oratorios, cantatas and song evenings; that is forms in which vocal artistry dominates. However symphonic, instrumental and chamber music are not ignored and in the venues here there are ballet performances and church music as well as promenade concerts and other genres. Every year at the festival practically all the top Czech interpreters perform, the three national theatres, all the significant orchestras and choirs and the best conductors, soloists and instrumentalists. And even though there are many significant foreign guests (among others Katia Ricciarelli, Sherill Milnes, Bernd Weikl, Kurt Rydl, Sergej Larin, Neil Shicoff, Torsten Kerl, Sumi Jo, Kate Royal, Marcello Giordani, Thomas Hampson, Oksana Dyka ...) Smetana’s Litomyšl has retained its Czech character and so is truly a national festival.

The centre of the festival is the wonderful Litomyšl State Castle, which in 1999 was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. The main events are held mostly in the acoustically excellently prepared second courtyard with its unique retractable roof, as well as in the castle riding hall, in Litomyšl’s churches, in the Smetana Hall and regularly in selected places in the Pardubice region.

A visit to Smetana’s Litomyšl is no ordinary occasion, as aside from the interesting dramaturgy and the brilliant performances it offers a chance to stay away from the metropolitan hustle and bustle in a place with its own unique spirit.

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