Celebrating the 80th Prague Spring International Music Festival with Smetana’s My Country

For this week's Sunday Music Show, we’re celebrating the pinnacle of the classical-music calendar in Czechia: the Prague Spring International Music Festival.

This year, the festival is marking its eightieth edition, which began on May 12th and runs until June 3rd. The intervening three weeks will witness a rich programme of concerts and performances by an international selection of musicians. To hear more about who’s in the programme this year, catch our interview with programme director Josef Třeštík.

Prague Spring Festival has also open air zone this year|Photo: Michaela Říhová, ČTK

While the performers and pieces change every year, one fixture of the Prague Spring festival is its opening night. This is always a performance of Má Vlast (My Country) by Bedřich Smetana, which surely ranks among the most famous and most beloved works of Czech music.

This set of six symphonic poems, composed between 1874 and 1879, include Vyšehrad (The High Castle) and Vltava (The Moldau), each one evoking in music the landscape and history of these great Czech symbols. Please enjoy our selection of music from Má Vlast, performed by the Czech Philharmonic.

Chief Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Semyon Byčkov during the Prague Spring Festival|Photo: Michal Kamaryt, ČTK