What’s on in Prague

Prague Spring International Music Festival

5 May — 3 June 2024

Prague Spring has become one of the most prestigious classical music festivals in Europe, presenting exceptional artists, orchestras and chamber music ensembles of international acclaim as the summer concert season opens in Europe. Every year the festival is traditionally opened and closed by the Prague Symphony Orchestra. The festival showcases the best of contemporary classical music but also remembers important anniversaries in the music world by including works by the composers concerned. Only artists and orchestras of the highest quality are invited to perform in the Prague Spring and it is considered a great honour to perform on this platform. Famous artists that have appeared at the festival include Sviatoslav Richter, Herbert von Karajan, Boris Pergamenschikow, Julian Lloyd Webber, Lucia Popp, Kim Borg, Sir Colin Davis, Lorin Maazel, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, and Leonid Kogan, among many others.

The Prague Spring Festival's traditional venue is the Rudolfinum concert hall, a venerable Neo-Renaissance building with an excellent auditorium, situated on the bank of the Vltava River. Prague's ornate Municipal House, is also a popular venue, and has a larger seating capacity. However, performances take place in various venues throughout Prague.

Website www.festival.cz/en

Prague Autumn Festival

17 September 2024

Prague State Opera Municipal House Rudolfinum

Usually known as the Autumn Festival, the Prague Autumn International Music Festival accompanies the Prague Spring International Music Festival on the local arts calendar; the Autumn Festival marks the end of the European summer music festival season, just as the Spring Festival marks the beginning. This internationally acclaimed celebration of classical music has gained renown for its programme of world-class musicians, who perform a combination of famous old music and the best of contemporary classical music at various venues around Prague. Fans of classic music should plan their visit to the Czech Republic around the festival's dates.

Prague Christmas Markets

November to January annually

Old Town Square, Wenceslas Square

Prague's traditional Christmas markets are a highlight on the country's winter calendar, and tempt passersby with the tantalising aromas of gingerbread, sausages and hot mulled wine. Czech handicrafts such as candles, puppets and wooden toys are for sale at brightly decorated wooden huts, drawing souvenir hunters this way and that while local and international choirs perform stirring Christmas songs in Old Town Square. Other attractions include an open-air ice rink, an enormous Christmas tree ablaze with colourful lights, and a recreation of the Bethlehem manger scene at a wooden stable with live animals.

Website www.pragueexperience.com/events/christmas-markets.asp

Prague