The ‘sizzling tenor sax‘ (Jazzwise) of Julian Nicholas joins pillar of the Czech jazz scene pianist Emil Viklický and leading Czech bassist Petr Dvorský for a concert featuring a selection of jazz classics and individual favourites celebrating their 30 year long musical partnership. Revelling in the joy of making music together, Nicholas, Viklický and Dvorský who have just come together... Read more »

Music written in the shadow of death, Theresienstadt 1941-1945. We all know that where words fail music can speak yet it is still remarkable to think that during times of unimaginable horror the musicians held in Theresienstadt were able to garner any creativity at all, let alone enough to compose works as meaningful and moving... Read more »

British composer Julian Anderson  will discuss Czech cultural influences in his new Second  Symphony "Prague Panoramas" inspired by famous panoramic photos of Prague by legendary photographer Josef Sudek. The piece commissioned by the BBC  will have its first full performance at the BBC Proms on the same evening at 7.30pm (see separate listing). The BBC... Read more »

Distance and enchantment: whenever Julian Anderson creates a new work, we’re in for a musical experience that ruffles through memories as it ravishes the ears. His keenly awaited Second Symphony takes its cue from old photographs of Prague: a city dear to conductor Semyon Bychkov, and to the exiled Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů, whose exuberant... Read more »

A contemporary Czech circus company returns to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with an extraordinary show looking at the hectic pace of today’s world. In a unique set design featuring a giant treadmill, four performers and two musicians mix dance, running, cyr-wheel acrobatics and original live music, while running almost a whole marathon. This UK debut... Read more »

A new production of Dvořák's opera featuring Natalya Romaniw comes to the Edinburgh International Festival, with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Douglas Boyd and Garsington Opera. Rusalka is the haunting fable of a water sprite who sacrifices everything when she falls in love with a human prince. She enlists the help of a witch, entering the mortal world... Read more »

What is going on in a mind of a severely injured person undergoing a surgery after a serious car crash? Our leading character literally fights for his life – with us, you can get a peek of his colourful inner world. The performance combines a pantomime and inventive acrobatics. Shock, sadness, hope and even humour!... Read more »

A visually compelling film about women living and working in a Ukrainian prison, 107 Mothers opens with the piercing screams of a mother and her child. Leysa (Maryna Klimova), a new inmate, is giving birth in a dour hospital room under the soft, watchful gaze of Iryna (Iryna Kiryazeva), the prison’s ward. The relationship between these two... Read more »

For the first event in their two-concert residency at the 2022 International Festival, the Czech Philharmonic and Music Director Semyon Bychkov draw on the orchestra’s own eminent history to bring together richly flavoured music from their Czech homeland. No other ensemble can perform this music with the same power, authenticity or sheer delight. Dvořák offers... Read more »

Among the world’s most immediately distinctive and recognisable orchestras, the Czech Philharmonic is defined by its rich, individualistic playing that has shaped more than a century of unparalleled performances. Semyon Bychkov has been Chief Conductor and Music Director since 2018. In the second of their two concerts at the 2022 Edinburgh International Festival, Bychkov and... Read more »