The Prague Spring Festival supposed to begin on 7 May until 4 June proposes an alternative format for its 2020 edition. Because of the COVID-19 crisis and the social distancing measures, the festival cannot go on as planned. Instead, it will go online: streaming live concerts and broadcasting archive recordings. 

Between 15 May and 4 June, eleven concerts will form the basis of the alternative programme for the Prague Spring 2020, which will be broadcast live from five concert halls in Prague and one in Brno. “A solo recital will be given by Canadian violinist James Ehnes, performed exclusively for Prague Spring audiences from the United States. Listeners can also look forward to recordings of legendary festival concerts from previous years, and we’ll be continuously updating and adding to the programme as we go along.” says festival director Roman Bělor. All the concerts can be viewed free of charge on their website www.festival.cz; selected concerts will be brought to you by Czech Television and Czech Radio. These festival evenings will be hosted by Ondřej Havelka.

The festival’s pivotal work, Smetana’s My Country, cannot be performed live, nevertheless, on 11 May Czech Television will broadcast a compilation of significant Prague Spring opening concerts from previous years.

Check now the new online programme and read the entire press release!