Prague Spring Debut
300-800 CZK
The festival’s twelfth conducting debut will be caught up in a whirl of dance. Copland, Barber, Dvořák and Ginastera performed by Ondřej Soukup, soprano Simona Šaturová and Prague Philharmonia.
The Prague Spring Debut, a platform for talented young Czech conductors, has become an integral part of the festival, where the eyes of both the public and the critics are trained on the debut performance of a young artist.
The twelfth debutant in the series, appearing at the festival in 2026, will be a graduate of the prestigious Royal College of Music in London and laureate of the Ionel Perlea International Conducting Competition, Ondřej Soukup.
The artist, who is fast making a name for himself particularly in Great Britain and Scandinavia, will be conducting the Prague Philharmonia for the first time.
The young conductor spoke to us about the programme, which focuses on the American continent: “We begin with Copland’s sound of the open American prairies, then time stands still for a while in Barber’s Knoxville. After the break certain movements in Dvořák’s Suite bring to mind Barber’s nostalgia, while others are evocative of Copland’s dance entrée. And with Ginastera we dance our way to the grand finale.” Samuel Barber’s persuasive Knoxville: Summer of 1915 was written to a text by James Agee, Pulitzer Prize-winner and friend of Charlie Chaplin.
Its solo part will be performed by excellent Slovak soprano Simona Šaturová, who lent her voice to the prima donna Caterina Gabrielli in the film Il Boemo, which won a Czech Lion award, and in her own career she has appeared with the Vienna Philharmonic under Herbert Blomstedt, Staatskapelle Dresden under Manfred Honeck and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Charles Dutoit.
Ondřej Soukup is a distinctive, young Czech conductor with a rapidly developing international career. “Ondřej has a great conducting technique, efficient rehearsal technique, along with musical and personal maturity,” declared Dutch conductor Jac van Steen, whom the young artist joined as assistant conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. At the Royal College of Music he had the opportunity to work with Sir Antonio Pappano, the late Sir Roger Norrington and with Sir Thomas Allen, and he also assisted American conductor Ryan Bancroft with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Sweden’s Malmö Symphony Orchestra.
Despite his young age he has varied experience not only with the symphonic repertoire but also with opera and choral works from different periods, from Wagner’s Das Rheingold to new compositions by young composers. At the start of 2025 he premiered the opera The Play of the Night by leading Swedish composer Britta Byström. The holder of the Roderick Brydon Memorial Award for talented young conductors, Soukup has already conducted orchestras in Denmark, Sweden, Great Britain and naturally also the Czech Republic. He has also established a composition competition and is closely involved in charity projects.
