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Mid-sized Czech festival focused on all genres of music

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Rock for People (RfP) is one of the largest open-air summer music festivals in the Czech Republic. The festival began in 1995 in the town Český Brod, and in 2007 it was moved to an unused airport in Hradec Králové. The festival features Czech and international acts of various genres, most prominently alternative rock, pop rock, punk rock, and EDM, and has also featured various workshops and recreational activities. Headlining acts have included Muse, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Arctic Monkeys, My Chemical Romance, the Offspring, the Killers, Paramore, and Massive Attack.

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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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The international interdisciplinary festival SMETANOVSKÉ DNY, which belongs to the calendar of the most important cultural events in Pilsen for more than thirty years, represents tradition and the certainty that there are still lasting values ​​that can be relied on. For music and art lovers in general, it is a real holiday that brings extraordinary experiences every year. In the top performance of important ensembles and leading performers of our and foreign scene, listeners can listen to well-known masterpieces in traditional and new contexts, as well as musical novelties. The interdisciplinarity, which stood at the very beginning of the festival in the form of a scientific symposium devoted to the issues of Czech culture of the 19th century, is maintained. Within the cultural context, the festival is rare in that it connects the world of music with the world of science, philosophy, literature, fine arts, theater and film. An integral part of the festival is also the involvement of Pilsen artists and performers.

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Audio-visual festival presenting electronical and acoustical music, contemporary classical music, jazz and scenic dance.

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The Strings of Autumn were established in 1996 during the tenure of Czech President Václav Havel by the curators of music events at Prague Castle, Marek Vrabec and Martin Pechanec. In the first eight years of the festival’s existence in the castle itself, the Strings of Autumn were distinguished by original programming and exceptional concerts, such as Cecil Taylor’s recital, the Czech premiere of Michael Nyman, or Jan Garbarek’s concert with the Hilliard Ensemble.
The list of artists and projects, which the festival has introduced to the Czech Republic for the first time ever throughout its 21-year span, stands as a rare accomplishment: Brad Mehldau, Bobby McFerrin, Cecil Taylor, Gregory Porter, Cassandra Wilson, Gil Shaham, Daniel Hope, Ghostpoet, Young Fathers, Chris Thile, Jason Moran, and many others. The Strings of Autumn have also initiated new projects and productions, such as the opera Don Juan in Prague in co-production with the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the theatrical rendition of Schubert’s Winter Journey at the Barrandov studios, or the live performance of Zdeněk Liška’s music to the film Markéta Lazarová. The festival systematically introduces the leading composers of today to Prague – including the likes of Michael Nyman, Gavin Bryars, Steve Reich, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, or this year’s legendary Terry Riley. The Strings of Autumn initiate artistic encounters that can prove to be life-changing. One example among many is Gregory Porter’s acquaintance with the Czech Hammond keyboardist Ondřej Pivec, which launched their Grammy Award-winning collaboration.
Each year the festival treads the pioneering path to broader musical horizons. Every concert is a major event of its type and genre. The Strings of Autumn offer music that you will not hear anywhere else.

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The Music Festival in Prague cycle, Václav Hudeček and his guests, presents one of the longest chamber music festivals held in the capital city of Prague. Its artistic guarantor and founder is an important Czech virtuoso, a legend of the Czech violin school, a pupil of David Oistrach, Václav Hudeček, who has been inviting not only renowned musicians to his concerts for almost 30 years,
but especially gives space to young talents, which underlines the uniqueness of this show
in the Prague cultural context.

At the beginning of her musical career, personalities such as the renowned mezzo-soprano Dagmar Pecková, who performed on leading European stages, cellist Jiří Bárta and horn player Radek Baborák, whose work includes the Berlin and Munich Philharmonic, were given the opportunity here in the past. In recent years, Václav Hudeček has introduced, among others, talented pianists Jaroslav Pěchočová and Lukáš Klánský, first ladies of the Czech harp Kateřina Englichová and Jana Boušková, holders of prestigious foreign awards, and young violinists Josef Špaček, Jan Mráček and Petr Matěják.

Since 2013, the festival has been developing cooperation with the Prague Conservatory with very positive responses from spectators. The most talented students in conjunction with renowned artists get the opportunity to perform in front of sold-out halls.
As part of the opening of the 21st year, the very successful Czech debut of the virtuoso Italian orchestra Interpreti Veneziani took place.

It is traditionally held under the auspices of the Speaker of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, the Mayor of the City District of Prague 1, the Minister of Culture and the Mayor of Prague. of the city of Prague.

The most important mission is to support young budding artists by creating opportunities for their concert performances
in important concert centers of the Prague metropolis and also for contact and cooperation with already renowned personalities of the Czech music scene.

The music holidays also aim to enrich and make the cultural offer of the metropolis more attractive with a quality show in the field of chamber music.
with the participation of renowned artists from the Czech Republic and abroad.

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In 1990, after the fall of the communist regime, when the minorities returned to Prague, the effort in their ranks was the uniqueness of the space and tradition of the Basilica of St. Jacob to preserve and develop. The then Provincial of Minorities, P. Oldřich Prachař, founded the "St. Jacob's Audite Organum" community. As an organist of the basilica, I have been involved in dramaturgy and organizing concerts since the beginning. I founded the International Organ Festival, Easter Concerts, Christmas Concerts and St. Jacob's Autumn. "St. Jacob's Audite Organum" is a community of my collaborators in organ music concerts. It also includes the Club of Friends of Audite Organum To support the organ in the Basilica of St. The Sancti Jacobi Organum Endowment Fund was established as a cultural monument.

Irena Chřibková

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Festival of sacred music

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The St. Wenceslas Music Festival (SHF) is the largest international festival of sacred and so-called early music in the Czech Republic. Since its inception in 2004, SHF has been held annually not only in Ostrava, but also in many churches throughout the Moravian-Silesian Region during the month of September (the first 10 years took place between two public holidays, September 28 - October 28). Traditionally, more than thirty concerts are celebrated by the feast of St. Wenceslas, representing the symbol of Czech statehood.

The main goal of SHF is the presentation of the so-called informed interpretation of early and sacred music in sacred spaces, in an effort to restore this music to its original meaning. High quality festival dramaturgy of the director of SHF doc. Mgr. Igor Františák, Ph.D. is guided by three main lines: monumental vocal-instrumental concerts, programs focused on the so-called authentic interpretation of early music and chamber and solo projects, which are annually supplemented by non-traditional and crossover projects. SHF systematically supports the talents of the young generation, presents the winners of prestigious competitions, modern premieres and unique projects (crossover projects, ballet, video art or film in the church). He also patriotistly takes care of the genius loci by presenting concerts by Moravian-Silesian natives of European artistic parameters and works by forgotten composers who have lived and created in the region since the Baroque period. The prestigious SHF residential ensembles are Collegium 1704, Collegium Marianum, Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno.

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