The Prague Spring Festival, now in its 66th year, is again focusing on the presentation of symphony orchestras from abroad. In 2011 this means an exceptional constellation comprising the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Alan Gilbert, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra led by Michael Tilson Thomas, and the NDR Sinfonieorchester. In addition to these orchestras, chamber ensembles will also appear at the Festival, for example, Amadinda (a Hungarian percussion ensemble specializing in contemporary music), the Ferenc Liszt Chamber Orchestra, and the Wiener Academie (performing, as part of their theatre programme, The Infernal Comedy, starring John Malkovich) and the Hilliard Ensemble, which in Prague will perform a staged concert by one of the most important contemporary composers, Heiner Goebbels.
Among some of the other important musicians who will appear at this year’s Festival are Jiří Bělohlávek, Maurizio Pollini, Thomas Quasthoff, Dawn Upshaw, Martina Janková, Pavel Šporcl, and Julian Rachlin.
The most important event in 2011 from a production point of view is undoubtedly the performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 – The Symphony of Thousands, as part of the two-year-long celebrations of the anniversaries of Mahler’s birth (1860) and death (1911). Czech and German interpreters will share duties in this vast work involving about 400 performers: the Czech Philharmonic, the NDR Sinfonieorchester conducted by Christoph Eschenbach, eight international soloists, the Prague Philharmonic Choir, the Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno, the NDR Choir, the Schleswig Holstein Choir, the Boni Pueri boys’ choir, and the Hamburg Children’s Choir.
The 2011 Prague Spring Festival will entail fifty events (concerts as well as other events). For the complete Festival programme, please visit our website www.festival.cz. Tickets are available in TICKETPRO network.