Debut Pražského jara 2026 / Prague Spring Debut

🇨🇿 The twelfth debutant in the successful, exciting series of conducting debuts, which was founded in 2014 by Jiří Bělohlávek, will in 2026 be a graduate of the prestigious Royal College of Music in London and the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen and laureate of the Ionela Perley International Conducting Competition 💥 Ondřej Soukup 💥 An artist whose name is quickly gaining sound especially in Great Britain and Scandinavia, will conduct the Prague Philharmonia orchestra for the first time. About the program, which refers to the American continent and dance rhythms, the young conductor says: "From Copland's sound of the open American prairies, time stops for a while in Barber's Knoxville. After a break, we will connect in some movements of Dvořák's Suite with Barber's nostalgia, in others with Copland's dance entrée. And finally, with Ginastera, we will dance until the big finale." In Samuel Barber's impressive work Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (Summer of 1915) based on a text by Pulitzer Prize winner James Agee, the excellent Slovak soprano Simona Šaturová will appear as a soloist, who lent her voice to prima donna Caterina Gabriella in the Czech Lion-winning film Il Boemo and, in her own career, has performed, for example, with the Vienna Philharmonic with Herbert Blomstedt, the Staatskapelle Dresden with Manfred Honeck or with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit.

Tickets ➡️ https://bit.ly/debut-prazskeho-jara2026

🇬🇧 The twelfth debutant in the successful, exciting series of conducting debuts founded in 2014 by Jiří Bělohlávek will be in 2026 a graduate of the prestigious Royal College of Music in London, Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen and laureate of the Ionel Perlea International Conducting Competition, 💥 Ondřej Soukup 💥 The artist, who is fast making a name for himself particularly in Great Britain and Scandinavia, will be conducting the Prague Philharmonia for the first time. The young conductor spoke to us about the program, which focuses on the American continent and dance rhythms: "We begin with Copland's sound of the open American prairies, then time stands still for a while in Barber's Knoxville. After the break certain movements in Dvořák's Suite bring to mind Barber's nostalgia, while others are evocative of Copland's dance entrée. And with Ginastera we dance our way to the grand finale." Samuel Barber's persuasive Knoxville: Summer of 1915 was written to a text by James Agee, Pulitzer Prize-winner. Its solo part will be performed by excellent Slovak soprano Simona Šaturová, who lent her voice to the prima donna Caterina Gabrielli in the film Il Boemo, which won a Czech Lion award, and in her own career she has appeared with the Vienna Philharmonic under Herbert Blomstedt, Staatskapelle Dresden under Manfred Honeck and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Charles Dutoit.

Tickets ➡️ https://bit.ly/prague-spring-debut2026

Program
🔹 Aaron Copland: Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo
🔹 Samuel Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915
🔹 Antonín Dvořák: Suite in A major op. 98b / Suite in A major Op. 98b
🔹 Alberto Ginastera: Four dances from the ballet Estancia op. 8a / Four Dances from Estancia Op. 8a

Ondřej Soukup, conductor
Simona Šaturová, soprano
Prague Philharmonia