Prague is steeped in music. Its compact centre contains exquisite theatres, two great concert halls – the Smetana Hall in the city’s historic Obecní dům and the magnificent Rudolfinum – and beautiful churches with wonderful acoustics, including the 13th-century Convent of St Agnes. The great Czech composers featured in this year’s Prague Spring festival who lived and worked in the city include Bedřich Smetana, whose unique contribution to Czech culture is celebrated in the National Museum’s special bicentenary exhibition, and Bohuslav Martinů, who played violin in the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra before achieving fame in Paris and the United States.

It is not only Czech-born musicians who have contributed to the extraordinary richness of the city’s musical life. Thanks to Prague’s position as a capital of the Habsburg Empire, officially established in 1784 when Emperor Joseph II decreed the merging the four medieval cities that had grown on the banks of the Vltava, many of Europe’s leading composers were drawn here too. Mozart adored Prague and was adored in return: ‘Nothing is talked about except Figaro; nothing is played, blown, sung, whistled except Figaro’, he marvelled to a Viennese friend during his first visit in 1787. He returned in 1791 in the final months of his life to produce an opera for the Prague coronation of Joseph’s successor, Leopold II. La clemenza di Tito was composed almost simultaneously with the haunting Requiem which concludes the final concert of our tour.

Interior of Obencí dům, Stephen Rabold ©

Later in the same decade, the young Beethoven visited Prague three times, hoping to emulate Mozart’s success. In 1798 he performed his newly composed First Piano Concerto, which Pierre-Laurent Aimard will play in this year’s festival in a concert also featuring the mighty Fifth Symphony. Parts for that symphony including Beethoven’s hand-written annotations can be seen at the magnificent palace of his patron, Prince Lobkowicz, perched high above the city among the buildings of Prague Castle. In 1885, meanwhile, Gustav Mahler, whose monumental Sixth Symphony begins our musical programme, came to Prague as musical director of the German theatres and enjoyed the experience so much that he tried to extract himself from a contract in Leipzig in order to remain longer. Mahler introduced Prague audiences to Wagner’s Ring, and conducted in the beautiful Estates Theatre, where Don Giovanni was premiered and which we will see on a private visit during our tour.

The Prague Spring Festival was founded in 1946 under the guidance of Czechoslovakia’s President, Edvard Beneš. It is now celebrating its eightieth edition and invariably attracts the world’s best musicians and orchestras – including, for our first concert, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Klaus Mäkelä, the most exciting conductor of his generation. Experiencing music-making of this quality while discovering Prague’s architectural wonders in the company of our expert guide, Martina Hinks-Edwards, is a heady combination, as I discovered when leading my first MRT tour to the festival in 2023. I am thrilled to be returning this year and hope you will be able to join us.

Find out more about Prague Spring, which departs 19–25 May 2025