Prague Spring 2026 – 81st International Music Festival

The 81st International Music Festival Prague Spring runs from May 12 to June 4, 2026 at various venues across Prague. The festival offers more than sixty events: 38 concerts, 19 masterclasses and workshops, and 7 accompanying events including the traditional Prague Spring Art Salon exhibition. Ninety-seven artists, chamber ensembles, and orchestras from 28 countries will perform. In 2026, the festival marks eighty years since its founding.

The opening on May 12 at the Smetana Hall of the Municipal House will be conducted by Petr Popelka and the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, which celebrates 100 years since its establishment, performing a cycle of symphonic poems "My Homeland" by Bedřich Smetana. The opening concert will be broadcast live on ČT art, Czech Radio Vltava, and screened in Rieger Gardens (free admission).

The resident artist is Canadian soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan, who will appear in five projects – four concerts and one masterclass, including the Czech premiere of Francis Poulenc's opera "The Human Voice" with the Czech Philharmonic. The resident composer is Unsuk Chin. The programme is exceptionally strong in large vocal-instrumental works: Jakub Jan Ryba's "Stabat Mater", Hector Berlioz's "The Damnation of Faust", Joseph Haydn's "The Creation", and the festival will conclude with Verdi's "Messa da Requiem" with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Daniele Gatti. Leading European orchestras will be represented by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (Simon Rattle), Oslo Philharmonic (Klaus Mäkelä), and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (Tomáš Hanus). Tickets are available online at festival.cz and at festival box offices in Rudolfinum and the Municipal House (daily 10–19, May 4 to June 4, 2026).