Prague Philharmonia Announces the Program of Its 33rd Concert Season

PRAGUE, 16 March 2026: Prague Philharmonia enters its 33rd concert season with a program that connects major orchestral evenings at the Rudolfinum with chamber and contemporary projects as well as family concerts. The orchestral season includes eight subscription concerts, a special Wagner gala, and the jubilee tenth edition of the donor series, Lobkowicz Subscription. Subscription sales begin on 16 March, while unrenewed subscriptions and individual tickets will go on sale on 1 May.

“Prague Philharmonia is one of those institutions that consistently affirm Prague’s position not only as a historical, but also as a vibrant cultural center of Europe. I greatly appreciate that the orchestra is entering its 33rd season with such an ambitious and open program, one that connects major symphonic evenings, chamber music, contemporary projects, and work with young audiences. It is precisely this range, together with its high artistic standard and its ability to appeal to different generations, that makes Prague Philharmonia an exceptionally valuable part of our city‘s cultural life. For the new season, I wish the orchestra and its audience many powerful musical experiences and further successes both at home and abroad,“ said the Mayor of the Capital City of Prague, Doc. MUDr. Bohuslav Svoboda, CSc., who has granted his auspices to the 33rd season.

“We are entering our 33rd season full of inspiration brought to us by the past year. After concert stops in a number of European cities, an intensive autumn tour of Japan, and a successful American tour culminating at Carnegie Hall, we feel strengthened and in excellent artistic form. Yet what delights us most is when the joy of music resonates with you, our beloved home audience,“ said Pavel Trojan, Director of Prague Philharmonia.

“The orchestra is in superb artistic form, and we proudly bear the name of Prague to audiences across the globe. For more than three decades, we have realized our vision of an orchestra that remains both outstanding and eternally youthful in spirit. None of this, however, would be possible without you here at home – our cherished subscribers, audiences, patrons, partners, and public funding institutions. We eagerly anticipate sharing our mutual passion with you in concert halls throughout the coming season." added Emmanuel Villaume, Music Director and Chief Conductor of Prague Philharmonia.

Orchestral Series A

Prague Philharmonia’s thirty-third season is conceived as a carefully shaped arc – from Baroque to the present day, from intimate expression to monumental gestures. Music Director Emmanuel Villaume has created a dramaturgy that is not merely a showcase of styles, but a journey: eight evenings, eight musical chapters that together form one powerful story.

The opening concert serves as a bridge – between Europe and America, between home and exile, between tradition and the New World. In Sinfonietta La Jolla, Martinů recalls his homeland from the United States, while the American composer Samuel Barber wrote his Violin Concerto on European soil. The soloist will be Canadian violinist Blake Pouliot, with whom we shone at Carnegie Hall. The program thus echoes memories of our successful American tour in the previous season. Overarching it all is Beethoven’s Fate Symphony, a timeless statement on human will and the struggle with destiny.

The second evening belongs to energy. Mexican conductor Iván López Reynoso brings temperament and sparkle, while pianist Andrew von Oeyen will perform Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto like a musical firework display. Schubert’s Ninth Symphony will then allow our orchestra’s brilliance to shine.

At the third subscription concert, Petr Altrichter will open the gates to spiritual depth. Dvořák’s Biblical Songs, in the atmosphere of All Saints’ Day, will become a quiet pause, a prayer in tones. Shostakovich’s Fifteenth Symphony, his last, is by contrast a summing up of life, full of irony, memories, and bitter wisdom.

The fourth evening works with space. Conductor Oscar Jockel will have the orchestra resound from every corner of Dvořák Hall, just as Gabrieli once did in the churches of Venice. Then Grieg’s Piano Concerto will come as a confession of the Nordic soul in the hands of Charles Richard-Hamelin, laureate of the Chopin Competition.

The leading role in the fifth concert belongs to the human voice. Chief Conductor Villaume and countertenor Hugh Cutting will bring us the world of Mozart and Gluck, a world of emotions hidden in simplicity. Mozart’s Linz Symphony will close the evening with lightness and clarity, like a joyful exhalation after the voice’s inward storytelling.

The sixth evening will connect Baroque and Classicism. Conductor Marc Minkowski will present Rameau with French charm, and Haydn with Schubert in a vivid historically informed interpretation. Here, the tradition of Prague Philharmonia meets an inspiring new perspective.

The dramaturgy of the seventh concert offers an inspiring European dialogue. Beethoven‘s Fourth Symphony may, with slight exaggeration, be called „Polish,“ as the composer wrote it during a stay with his Silesian patron. It will be performed under the baton of Polish conductor Łukasz Borowicz, who will also include music by the Polish 20th-century master Henryk Górecki. The rugged northern lyricism of Sibelius‘s Violin Concerto will be heard in a performance by the outstanding Jan Mráček.

The closing concert of Subscription Series A will bring, under the baton of our Chief Conductor, an iconic pairing: Dvořák’s deeply personal and melodically immediate Cello Concerto in B minor, and Brahms’s heroic, powerfully constructed First Symphony. The subscription season will thus conclude with an evening that can, without exaggeration, be described as a musical cathedral.

Special Concert

After the subscription cycle concludes, audiences can look forward to one more extraordinary undertaking – a Wagner Gala featuring one of the stars of the upcoming edition of the renowned Bayreuth Festival, bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee, together with the outstanding mezzo-soprano Jennifer Feinstein.

For the orchestra and its Chief Conductor, this will also be an exceptional interpretive highlight. Wagner’s scores require a large performing apparatus with prominent wind sections and place high demands on stylistic discipline as well as sonic imagination. The result will be an evening of artistic and emotional intensity – a dignified and grand finale to Prague Philharmonia’s 33rd season.

Chamber Series K, dramaturgical concept by Martina Sermain

In its 33rd season, the chamber series has chosen the leitmotif of Musical (Non-)Friendships. The season also marks the anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven, who died in Vienna on 26 March 1827. A special March and January concert of the season is dedicated to him, and also serves as a remembrance by the founding members of the orchestra, led by the Prague Philharmonia Wind Quintet, in honour of Professor Jiří Bělohlávek.

We will open the chamber series with Dvořák’s piano quartet. The first chamber evening will thus reveal the friendship between the composers Dvořák and Brahms. For the first time, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons will appear in the chamber cycle, reflecting the Italian composer’s friendship with Count Wenceslas of Morzin. Other friendships included that between Bohuslav Martinů and the Czech piano virtuoso Josef Páleníček, whose music will be presented by the Smetana Trio, in which his son performs. The chamber series will also focus on friendships between individual players and composers. Among them is Kateřina Horká, a contemporary Czech composer whose premiere will be performed by the Kalabis Quintet, as well as the February concert for four violins featuring members of Prague Philharmonia.

The April concert featuring Trio Incendio is not only about friendship, but also about the animosity between two French composers – Claude Debussy and Camille Saint-Saëns. The chamber cycle will also feature all three concertmasters of Prague Philharmonia: Pavla Tesařová, Romana Špačková, and Lukáš Pospíšil, as well as bassoonists Tomáš Františ and Petr Sedlák. The highlight of the 33rd chamber season will be the final chamber concert in June with the Bennewitz Quartet and clarinettist Jan Brabec.

Contemporary Music Series S, dramaturgical concept by Hana Dohnálková

The series in the 33rd season will offer exceptional musical experiences, with contemporary composers appearing as guests at six concerts, engaging discussions, and outstanding performers drawn from the members of the Prague Philharmonia. The young generation of Czech composers will be represented by Haštal Hapka and Darja Kukal Moiseeva, while contemporary Slovakia will be represented by five young Slovak composers. One evening will venture into the sphere of world music through the works of György Ligeti and Elliott Carter. The concert, subtitled The String Quartet as a Phenomenon, will feature two of the most demanding works in the string quartet repertoire.

The S Series is a challenging platform that introduces distinctive personalities whose work transcends individual disciplines and leaves a noticeable mark on Czech culture. One such figure is Milan Knížák, who will present himself to Czech audiences on this occasion as a composer, and a remarkable one at that. Equally remarkable is the trio of composers known from previous seasons – Vladimír Franz, Zdenek Merta, and Vadim Petrov. They will conclude the entire season with a gala evening titled Repete, or This Time Together on Stage, featuring a number of world premieres.

The series takes the form of a popular talk-show format. The music of all these composers will therefore be accompanied by their own commentaries, reflecting not only on their works but also on contemporary culture. Musical guests of the season will include the oboist Vilém Veverka, the pianist Miroslav Beinhauer, the clarinetist Anna Paulová, and the vibraphone soloist Štěpán Hon.

Concerts for Children and Parents (Series D/E)

The tradition of family concerts was introduced into the Czech musical environment by conductor Jiří Bělohlávek, founder of Prague Philharmonia. It was thanks to his vision of connecting classical music with the world of children that a concert series was created which, for more than three decades, has opened the doors of this unique art form to the youngest listeners. This season has once again been prepared by a creative team consisting of Viktorie Vášová, a distinctive director working at the intersection of theatre and performance; Klára Boudalová, responsible for script and musical dramaturgy, an experienced author of concert stories who connects the worlds of music and storytelling; and Klára Fleková, who created the stage design and imaginative costumes, a visual artist whose work draws on the imagination and symbolism of the child’s world. The audience will be guided on an engaging journey through time by the popular actors Lucie Čižinská and Štěpán Lustyk.

Lobkowicz Subscription

The jubilee tenth edition of the donor series, Lobkowicz Subscription, will once again bring encounters in 2026 with exceptional personalities of the international music scene who are appearing on the Czech concert stage for the very first time, or only very rarely – Carlos Ferreira, Asya Fateyeva, Kevin Zhu, and Anouchka Hack. Curators of the Lobkowicz Collections will vividly present stories from the history of art that form an inseparable part of Czech and European cultural heritage. A subscription to these exceptional evenings with the orchestra is not only an invitation to a remarkable musical and cultural experience, but also an elegant way to support the orchestra.

Other Activities of the Orchestra

Alongside our Prague subscription series, we are looking forward to festival appearances at home and abroad – for example at the renowned festivals in Stresa, Italy, and Vevey, Switzerland – as well as concerts in beautiful European halls such as the Philharmonie Köln and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. The orchestra will continue to develop its support for young talent through the Orchestral Academy and to offer innovative educational projects for the youngest listeners in the Notička club and for school classes in the Orchestr ZOOM program.