The Dvořák Prague festival: classical music at its best

The core of the festival’s dramaturgy is Dvořák’s musical legacy which this year will include performances of Dvořák’s most famous opera Rusalka and showcase the Dvořák Collection programme together with the Chamber Series. However, the festival also regularly hosts some of the world’s top orchestras. Let us take a look at this year’s programme.  

The highlight of the 2022 edition will undoubtedly be a concert performance of Rusalka with an international cast of singers that would make Dvořák Prague the envy of many renowned opera houses. We will get to enjoy the beauty of Dvořák’s opera performed by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and its chief conductor, Semyon Bychkov, and led by Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian together with Jamie Barton and Dmytro Popov. Rusalka is on the programme on 19, 21 and 23 September. 

This year, Dvořák Prague Chamber Series, which is becoming ever more popular among audiences, will focus on complete performances of all of Antonín Dvořák’s string quartets. The composer wrote 14 of them in total, and they will be presented successively not only this year, but also at the next two editions, always under the auspices of the curators, who are members of the Pavel Haas Quartet. They will launch the Chamber Series on 12 September, and the next concerts of the series will feature great Czech and international ensembles, such as the Juilliard String Quartet on 15 September and the Jerusalem Quartet on 20 September.   

The list of symphony orchestras is always one of the metrics that determines the prestige of a festival event. A major musical highlight is undoubtedly the guest appearance of The Cleveland Orchestra on 11 September, led by its music director Franz Welser-Möst. The Munich Philharmonic will play in Prague twice: at the opening concert on 8 September, and the day after. While the opening concert is dedicated purely to Dvořák’s works, namely the New World Symphony and the Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in B Minor, the following day will feature works by Schumann and Bruckner. Conductor Myung-Whun Chung will take the baton for both concerts, with cellist Truls Mørk as soloist on both evenings. Other guests in the orchestral series are the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from London and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. 

The prestige of the festival is further enhanced by the participation of icons of the performing arts, of which legendary pianist Martha Argerich is most definitely a prime example. Her performance will take place on 24 September.  

We look forward to seeing you from 8 to 25 September 2022 at Dvořák Prague! 

• Dvořákova Praha