The Prague Spring International Music Festival ( cs, Mezinárodní hudební festival Pražské jaro, commonly cs, Pražské jaro, Prague Spring) is a

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

held every year in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, Czech Republic, with symphony orchestras and chamber music ensembles from around the world. The first festival was held in 1946 under the patronage of Czechoslovak president

Edvard Beneš Edvard Beneš (; 28 May 1884 – 3 September 1948) was a Czech politician and statesman who served as the president of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1938, and again from 1945 to 1948. He also led the Czechoslovak government-in-exile 1939 to 194 ...

, and its organizing committee was made up of important figures in Czech musical life. In that year, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra was celebrating its fiftieth anniversary and was therefore granted to appear in all of the orchestral concerts. The project was initiated by Rafael Kubelík, chief conductor of the orchestra at the time. Such musicians as Karel Ančerl,

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

, Sir

Adrian Boult Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in Londo ...

Rudolf Firkušný Rudolf Firkušný (; 11 February 191219 July 1994) was a Moravian-born, Moravian-American classical pianist. Life Born in Moravian town Napajedla, Firkušný started his musical studies with the composers Leoš Janáček and Josef Suk, and ...

Jaroslav Krombholc Jaroslav Krombholc (Prague, 30 January 1918 - 16 July 1983) was a Czechoslovak conductor. Biography Krombholc is born in a musician family. He studied in Prague Conservatory in 1937-1940 and nearby Václav Talich until 1942. After, he became cond ...

, Rafael Kubelík, Moura Lympany,

Yevgeny Mravinsky Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Mravinsky (russian: Евге́ний Алекса́ндрович Мрави́нский) (19 January 1988) was a Russian conductor, pianist, and music pedagogue; he was a professor at Leningrad State Conservatory. Biog ...

, Charles Münch,

Ginette Neveu Ginette Neveu (11 August 191928 October 1949) was a French classical violinist. She was killed in a plane crash at the age of 30. Early life Neveu was born on 11 August 1919 in Paris into a musical family. Her brother Jean-Paul became a class ...

, Jarmila Novotná,

Lev Oborin Lev Nikolayevich Oborin (russian: Лев Николаевич Оборин, ''Lev Nikolaevič Oborin''; Moscow, Moscow, 5 January 1974) was a Soviet and Russian pianist, composer and pedagogue. He was the winner of the first International Chopin ...

David Oistrakh David Fyodorovich Oistrakh (; – 24 October 1974), was a Soviet classical violinist, violist and conductor. Oistrakh collaborated with major orchestras and musicians from many parts of the world and was the dedicatee of numerous violin ...

, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi and Jan Panenka have appeared at the festival. Since 1952, the festival has opened on 12 May, the anniversary of the death of

Bedřich Smetana Bedřich Smetana ( , ; 2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style that became closely identified with his people's aspirations to a cultural and political "revival." He has been regarded i ...

, with his cycle of symphonic poems '' Má vlast'' (''My Country''), and it used to close (until 2003) with

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

's Symphony No. 9. The festival commemorates important musical anniversaries by including works by the composers concerned on its programmes, and presents Czech as well as world premieres of compositions by contemporary authors. Artists and orchestras who performed at the festival include

Sviatoslav Richter Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter, group= ( – August 1, 1997) was a Soviet classical pianist. He is frequently regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time, Great Pianists of the 20th Century and has been praised for the "depth of his int ...

Lorin Maazel Lorin Varencove Maazel (, March 6, 1930 – July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in th ...

Herbert von Karajan Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wit ...

Mstislav Rostropovich Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, (27 March 192727 April 2007) was a Russian cellist and conductor. He is considered by many to be the greatest cellist of the 20th century. In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was well ...

, Julian Lloyd Webber, Boris Pergamenschikow, Lucia Popp, Kim Borg,

Sir Colin Davis Sir Colin Rex Davis (25 September 1927 – 14 April 2013) was an English conductor, known for his association with the London Symphony Orchestra, having first conducted it in 1959. His repertoire was broad, but among the composers with whom h ...

, Maurice André,

Dmitry Sitkovetsky Dmitry Yulianovich Sitkovetsky (russian: Дмитрий Юлианович Ситковецкий; born September 27, 1954) is a Soviet- Russian born classical violinist, conductor and arranger, most notably of an arrangement for strings of J. S. ...

Leonid Kogan Leonid Borisovich Kogan (russian: Леони́д Бори́сович Ко́ган; uk, Леонід Борисович Коган; 14 November 1924 – 17 December 1982) was a preeminent Soviet violinist during the 20th century. Many consider ...

, Paul Klecki,

Gustav Leonhardt Gustav Maria Leonhardt (30 May 1928 – 16 January 2012) was a Dutch keyboardist, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor. He was a leading figure in the historically informed performance movement to perform music on period instruments. Le ...

Anne-Sophie Mutter Anne-Sophie Mutter (born 29 June 1963) is a German violinist. She was supported early in her career by Herbert von Karajan. As an advocate of contemporary music, she has had several works composed especially for her, by Sebastian Currier, Henr ...

, Giovanni Bellucci, Alfred Brendel, Heinrich Schiff,

Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his appear ...

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. A member of Les Six, his best known work is probably ''Antigone'', composed between 1924 and 1927 t ...

Arthur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein ( pl, Artur Rubinstein; 28 January 188720 December 1982) was a Polish-American pianist.

and Gennady Rozhdestvensky. Prague Spring's traditional venue is the Rudolfinum concert hall, a neo-renaissance building situated on the bank of the

Vltava Vltava ( , ; german: Moldau ) is the longest river in the Czech Republic, running southeast along the Bohemian Forest and then north across Bohemia, through Český Krumlov, České Budějovice and Prague, and finally merging with the Labe at ...

River. It is complemented by Prague's ornate Municipal House ( cs, Obecní dům, label=none), which has a larger seating capacity. The Prague Spring has a particular focus on supporting younger performers. The Prague Spring International Music Competition was established just one year after the festival itself and is held each year in various instrumental sections. The list of past winners of competition includes

, Saša Večtomov,

Natalia Gutman Natalia Grigoryevna Gutman (russian: Наталья Григорьевна Гутман) (born 14 November 1942 in Kazan), PAU, is a Russian cellist. She began to study cello at the Moscow Music School with R. Sapozhnikov. She was later admitted t ...

James Galway Sir James Galway (born 8 December 1939) is an Irish virtuoso flute player from Belfast, nicknamed "The Man with the Golden Flute". He established an international career as a solo flute player. In 2005, he received the Brit Award for Outsta ...

and

Maurice Bourgue Maurice Bourgue (born 6 November 1939) is a French oboist, composer, and conductor. Biography Maurice Bourgue studied at the Conservatoire de Paris in the oboe class of Étienne Baudo and chamber music of Fernand Oubradous. He won a First P ...

Competitions disciplines and Laureates

*Piano: Giovanni Bellucci, Martin Kasík, Ivo Kahánek *Organ:

Václav Rabas Václav Rabas (13 November 1885 in Krušovice Krušovice is a municipality and village in Rakovník District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 600 inhabitants. Geography Krušovice is located about north of ...

, Aleš Bárta, Martin Sander,

Jaroslav Tůma Jaroslav Tůma (born 1956, in Prague, Czech Republic) is a Czech organist. This organist, clavichord, harpsichordist and pianoforte player graduated from the Prague Conservatory and from the Faculty of Music of the Academy of Performing Arts ...

*Violin:

Ivan Štraus Ivan Štraus (24 July 1928 – 24 August 2018) was a Bosnian architect. Life Born in 1928, in Kremna, Zlatibor county, Serbia, to a Slovenian father and mother from Herzegovina. He identified as a "Bosnian of Slovenian and Herzegovinian d ...

Bohuslav Matoušek Bohuslav Matoušek (born in Havlíčkův Brod, 26 September 1949) is a Czech violinist and violist. At present he is a lecturer at the Academy of Music in Prague and JAMU. He studied in the classes of Jaroslav Pekelský and Václav Snítil at Pra ...

, Ivan Ženatý, Petr Messiereur *Cello:

*Trumpet: Vladislav Kozderka, Vladimír Rejlek *Trombone: Nicolas Moutier, Carl Lenthe *Flute: Jean Ferrandis, Andrea Lieberknecht, Tatjana Ruhland, Dora Seres, Denis Bouriakov, Yubeen Kim, Chaeyeon You *French Horn: Radek Baborák *Basson: Luboš Hucek, Václav Vonášek *Oboe: Liběna Séquardtová *Singing: Dagmar Pecková, Štefan Margita,

Magda Ianculescu Magda Ianculescu (30 March 1929 – 16 March 1995) was a Romanian operatic soprano and voice teacher. A leading singer in the Romanian National Opera for many years, she was known for her musicality and vocal technique. Her voice had a wide range ...

*Harpsichord: Jean Rondeau, Anastasia Antonova *Conducting: Charles Olivieri-Munroe, Pierre-Michel Durand The age limit for candidates is 30 years.

References

Bibliography

* Antonín Matzner a kol.: Šedesát pražských jar. Togga: Praha, 2006.

External links

Prague Spring — International Music Festival

The first Prague Spring International Cello Competition in 1950 in photographs, documents and reminiscencesPrague Spring International Music Festival

List of all flute competition laureates
* {{Authority control Music in Prague Classical music festivals in the Czech Republic Festivals in Prague 1946 establishments in Czechoslovakia Music festivals established in 1946 Spring (season) events in the Czech Republic

Competitions disciplines and Laureates

See also

References

Bibliography

External links