About the festival
The Prague Music Festival represents one of the longest festivals organised on the territory of the City of Prague. The Czech virtuoso Václav Hudeček, a legend of the Czech violin school and Igor Oistrach´s student is an artistic director and founder of the festival. For more than 20 years he has been inviting not only renowned musicians but also young talents to perform on the stage of the Church of St. Simon and Juda and the famous stages in Prague. This fact underlines uniqueness of the festival in Prague cultural context. Some renowned musicians were given the possibility to perform here at the beginning of their career as for example mezzo-soprano Dagmar Pecková who appears on the foremost European stages, violoncellist Jiří Bárta, a popular violinist Pavel Šporcl or hornist Radek Baborák who has been performing with the Berlin or Munich philharmonic orchestra.
Within the anniversary 20th year of the festival, Václav Hudeček presents pianists Jaroslava Pěchočová and Lukáš Klánský among others, a known multi-instrumentalist, jazzman and flute player Jiří Stivín, hornist Radek Baborák, first lady of Czech harp Jana Boušková who is a holder of prestigious international awards or young violinists Josef Špaček and Jan Mráček. Artistic credit of festival´s founder and his guests who are presented within this year´s festival as well as a refined dramaturgy based on Czech and international classical music legacy are proof of a high artistic level
of the established Prague festival.
From 2013 the festival with its a very positive audience feedback develops cooperation with the Prague Conservatory. The most talented students in conjunction with renowned artists get the opportunity to perform in the full halls.
In the framework of the opening of the 21st year was realized very successful Czech debut of virtuoso Italian orchestra Interpreti Veneziani.
Held under the patronage of the President of the Senate of the Parliament of the CZECH REPUBLIC, Mr. Jaroslav Kubera, of the President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the CZECH REPUBLIC, Mr. Radek Vondráček, Minister of Culturel of the CZECH REPUBLIC, Mr. Antonín Staněk and Mayor of Prague Mr. Zdeněk Hřib.
Mission of the festival
Support of young artists at the beginning of their career is the linchpin of the festival´s mission.
Young artists are offered chances to perform in a significant cultural centre of the City of Prague alongside renowned personages
of the Czech music scene.
General goals of the festival
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Enrichment of the city´s cultural offer and increase in its attractivity due to a high-quality chamber music concert series.
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Support of a young coming generation of artists in the field of classical music.
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High interpretation level with the focus on the presentation of highly renowned Czech artists.
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Preservation and development of Czech and international music history legacy.
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Quality usage of the city´s cultural potential, particularly of the Church of St. Simon and Juda spaces in Prague 1 and of other suitable concert spaces.
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Stimulation of home artistic activity and the development of cultural dialogue in the field of chamber music.
Václav Hudeček
founder of the festival
Václav Hudeček started his exemplary rapid ascent among the Czech and international interpretation lite in the 1960s. At the age of 15, he performed in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on November 12, 1967. A day later the legendary David Oistrach heard him play, predicted great future for Hudeček and offered his pedagogic help. Hudeček was the great Master’s student since 1970 until Oistrach’s death in 1974. At the same time, Hudeček studied at the Musical Arts Academy in Prague
in Prof. Václav Snítil’s class.
Since his London debut, Hudeček has played on the most prestigious stages around the world (Carnegie Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Suntory Hall, Osaka Festival Hall, Sydney Opera), with the best orchestras of the world (Berliner Philharmoniker, Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, NHK Philharmonic Orchestra, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Moscow State Philharmonic Orchestra and others),
as well as on the most respected festivals (Osaka, Salzburg, Istanbul, Perth, Helsinki).
He still professes to the legacy of David Oistrach and other greats from the Russian violin school. Hudeček purposefully collaborates with the carriers of Oistrach’s, Kogan’s and Sitkovetski’s traditions, as proven by their recordings made together. Hudeček’s nice demeanour and primarily his playing style, combining technical sovereignty with gustily created and emotionally rich tone and his inimitable joy transferred onto the public continue to charm audiences, regardless of their age. His recording of Vivaldi’s Le quattro stagioni with conductor Pavel Kogan remains the most successful production in the Czech Republic since 1992. Hudeček received a Gold Record for the album in 1997. He has received Gold Records also for other recordings.
Václav Hudeček does not devote himself just to composition by Old Masters but adds also works from the 20th century (Janáček, Prokofiev) and from contemporary Czech authors (Kymlička, Fišer, Mácha) to his repertoire. He is helping systematically the young generation of players by holding the annual summer violin courses in Luhačovice and by presenting the best of them as guests
in his concerts, his traditional Christmas tours or the Music Festival in Church of St Simon and St Jude in Prague. Czech President Václav Klaus gave Václav Hudeček the “Order of Merit for the State in Culture and Arts”. In 2015, the Italian President awarded him the prestigious State Awards The Knighthood Italian Star. In 2018 Hudeček received the Award of the Czech Music Council of UNESCO for the long-term successful artistic and pedagogical support of the greatest generation of Czech artists.
Foto: Radovan Šubín
Organizer:
Svátky hudby z.s.
Třeboňská 530/2
Prague 4, 140 00
