NEWS

On September 6, 2026, the 17th year of the Eduard Nápravník International Music Festival will begin in Čestlice near Prague. In 2026, we will commemorate the 187th anniversary of the birth of Eduard Nápravník and it will also be the 17th year of the festival, which is named after this giant of world music history. This festival is becoming a traditional cultural event in the Czech Republic. Since 2008, when the first year of this festival took place in Prague, a number of important world artists have performed at it. Let us mention, for example, the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra of Mariánské Lázně, the Italian duo Filomena Dipasquale - Giorgio Albinani, the famous American pianist James Dick, the Moscow Trio, the P. I. Tchaikovsky String Quartet, clarinetist Felix Slováček, saxophonist Osian Roberts, cellist Mikhail Utkin, Eduard Nápravník Trio consisting of Felix Slováček Jr., Petr Nouzovský, Vyacheslav Grochovsky Jr., Baroque jazz special under the direction of Jiří Hlaváč, Conca Collegium Chamber Orchestra, Bohuslav Martinů Chamber Orchestra, violist Jitka Hosprová, baritone Rainer Weiss from the Berlin Opera, the Smetana Trio or the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra, the prominent American violinist Gary Levinson or the Italian pianists Valerio Premuros, Francesco Mirabella and Vincenzo Pavone or trumpeter Luigi Santo also from Italy. In a very short time, the organizing committee of the festival has managed to establish cooperation with several important institutions and sponsors, thanks to which the entire very demanding cultural event has been able to move to a higher level in terms of organization and quality. The main partners of the festival include the State Fund for Culture of the Czech Republic, the Life of an Artist Foundation, the Municipal District for Prague 9, the JHSO Jindřichův Hradec Symphony Orchestra, the municipality of Býšť, the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra of Mariánské Lázně, the municipalities of Opočno and Čestlice and Nebušice, the A-Tempo Verlag publishing house, the companies Potten and Pannen a.s., Music Model Trust, Aquarius and Music Cat. Thanks to the support of these and other institutions, the festival gradually expanded throughout the Czech Republic. This intention, i.e. to expand the scope of the festival throughout the Czech Republic, is considered very important by the organizing committee of the festival, as it gives as many listeners as possible the opportunity to get acquainted with the music of Eduard Nápravník, this unjustly neglected giant of Czech music. One of the interesting points of the E. Nápravník festival is also the organization of workshops and masterclasses. The organizing committee of the festival considers such events to be an important educational platform where world-famous artists and artists just starting their professional careers meet. The masterclasses of the E. Nápravník Festival have already been taught by such musical aces as the winner of the P. I. Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the cellist Kiril Rodin, the winner of several prestigious viola competitions, Professor Sergei Baturin or the professor, pupil of Mstislav Rostropovich, the cellist Mikhail Utkin, the Italian pianists Valerio Premuroso, Francesco Mirabella, Vincenzo Pavone, the German pianist Georgy Mundrov, the Italian guitarist Giorgio Albiani, the flautist Filomena Dipasquale, the American violinist Gary Levinson, Italian violinist Marco Terlizzi, Polish violinist, concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic Tomasz Tomaszewski and many others.

But let's go back to the content of the 17th year of the festival, which will have a very varied and interesting program. This time, like the previous festival year, the festival takes place in a limited time period, from August to December. The festival's concerts will feature not only classical music or the music of Eduard Nápravník, but also jazz music, music of the so-called third stream, and there will also be works by composers living today. The organizing committee of the festival tried to put together a program so that lovers of almost all musical styles and industries would find something to their liking. This time too, the festival will offer the participation of star music aces, both from the domestic scene and from abroad. The focal point of the annual festival will undoubtedly be the music of Eduard Nápravník and his close friends, Tchaikovsky, Dvořák, Borodin and Smetana. The music of composers from the 20th century will not be omitted, for example, the festival team plans to present works by V. Grochovsky Sr., J. Hlaváč, J. Vičar, or O. Peterson, and the work of the composer, clarinetist and professor of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Jiří Hlaváč, will be performed, specifically his vocal composition Water Water, Romance for Jindřichův Hradec and his Sonata for clarinet and piano in the world premiere. The concerts of the 17th year will feature the Jindřichův Hradec Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Tomáš Petrů, the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra of Mariánské Lázně, the Five Star Clarinet Quartet under the baton of Professor Jiří Hlaváč, the chamber ensembles Eduard Nápravník Trio and Maestrio Piano Trio, soloists of the Prague State Opera and other Czech opera theatres Tereza Mátlová, Pavlína Senić, the winner of the Thalia Award for Opera Singing in 2024 Soňa Godarská, Martin Bělohlávek, Felix Slováček, Felix Slováček junior. After a great success at the last festival year, the excellent Italian flautist Filoména di Pascuale will perform for the third time at the festival, who will perform together with the important Italian guitarist Giorgio Albiani, together they should play compositions by A. Vivaldi and J. S. Bach. The festival will also feature the phenomenal pianist Francesco Mirabella, who is returning to the festival after three years, and the German pianist Georgij Mundrov for the umpteenth time. In 2016-2019, we commemorated several anniversaries associated with Eduard Nápravník, in 2016 it was exactly one hundred years since the composer's death, in 2019 it was 180 years since the composer's birth, in 2026 Nápravník will be 187 years old since his birthday, and it is necessary to keep remembering his great creative legacy. That is why the Eduard Nápravník International Music Festival was created. The motto of the 17th year is "Music for Peace", which corresponds to both the number of planned concerts throughout the Czech Republic and the number of domestic and foreign performers from all over the world. This time, the festival concerts will feature symphonic compositions by Eduard Nápravník, such as his Serenade for String Orchestra, Suites for Cello and Piano, Violin and Piano, Piano Quartet, and the Second Piano Trio in D minor.

From the entire program of the 17th Eduard Nápravník Festival, it is worth mentioning the concert that will take place on 2 October 2026 in Mariánské Lázně, where a concert will be held with the participation of the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra of Mariánské Lázně and leading Czech vocalists Michaela Katráková and Jiří Rajniš, pianist Sláva Grochovskij, who will play the Symphonic Concerto by Eduard Nápravník, Felix Slováček junior will conduct. Other interesting concerts will certainly include, for example, a concert of vocal music, which returns to the festival program after a two-year hiatus, the concert will feature opera stars of the present and the future Soňa Godarská, Pavlína Senić, Tereza Mátlová, Andrea Kalivodová, Jurij Kruglov, Miguel Cavalcanti, Martin Bělohlávek and the next date of the concert is still being negotiated for organizational reasons. An interesting program will be offered by a concert in Opočno, where opera singer Pavlína Senić will perform together with Martin Bělohlávek and pianist Sláva Grochovský, who will be accompanied by the choir of the town of Opočno. There will be a beautiful program with an emphasis on vocal music of the late 19th and mid-20th centuries. There could also be a very interesting concert, the dramaturgy of which will be in charge of Professor Jiří Hlaváč, who will invite guests to the Šarlota recreation center for joint music. The proceeds from the event should help the famous Czech actor Alfred Strejček.This event, which the Eduard Nápravník Festival is happy to support, is becoming a good tradition. No less interesting should be the concerts at the Dvořák Museum in Prague, which this time will host a number of chamber concerts. For example, the leading Czech violinist Markéta Janoušková, accompanied by pianist Sláva Grochovsky, will perform here, and there will be a traditional vocal gala concert featuring leading Czech soloists from opera theatres. The pearl of the program of the 17th festival year should be the performance of the JHSO Symphony Orchestra from Jindřichův Hradec, which will play a beautiful Baroque program from the works of Bach and Vivaldi performed by guests from Italy, flautist Filomena Dipasquale and guitarist Giorgio Albiani, this concert will open the 17th festival year on September 6, 2026 in Čestlice near Prague. The Eduard Nápravník Festival once again gives the opportunity to perform young talented artists as part of the youth festival program. Pupils and students from Prague and the Central Bohemian Region will have the opportunity to play on stage with professionals. I am happy to say that nine primary art schools from Prague and the Central Bohemian Region are already involved in this project and the number of people interested in participating is still increasing. Masterclasses of some selected performers are also under negotiation - Prof. De Pasquale, Prof. Mundrov, Prof. Albiani.

As you can see, the 17th edition of the Eduard Nápravník Festival offers a wide range of cultural events in which every listener will find their concert. We hope that the festival program will satisfy even the most demanding music lover.

MgA. Vjačeslav Grochovskij, Ph.D.
Chief Executive of the Festival

MgA. Felix Slováček jr.
Producer and Artistic Director of the Festival

MgA. Pavlína Senić
Artistic Director of the Festival