Prague Spring: Opening Concert

“I would like to dedicate these pieces to the glorious city of Prague, since this is where I acquired my musical education, for many years I performed here in public, and it was also here that I was stricken by an illness that is so terrible for a musician,” wrote Bedřich Smetana (1824–1884) in a letter to the Council of the Royal City of Prague. In 2025 Smetana’s masterpiece My Country will appear on the Prague Spring programme for the 133rd time, including repeat performances; of these an impressive 76 are attributed to the Czech Philharmonic. Semyon Bychkov returns to the Prague Spring after a lengthy absence of twenty-seven years, here for the first time as Chief Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, with whom he will present the festival’s signature work.