Prague Symphony Orchestra

The Prague Symphony Orchestra is now in the culminating phase of its 72nd season and at the same time preparing for the new season. In May the orchestra will be making several appearances at the Prague Spring International Music Festival, where it will be performing with the conductors Charles Mackerras (21st May 2007), Serge Baudo (28th May 2007) and Gennady Rozhdestvensky (3rd June 2007). In June the PSO will be giving its final subscription concerts of the season, including a concert devoted entirely to performance of Claude Debussy’s oratorio The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, conducted by Serge Baudo (13th June 6.2007). The 80th birthday of this important conductor will be marked at the end of the season by a concert with a remarkable Czech-French programme (19th/20th June 2007). The orchestra will then bring the season to a close with a double appearance at concerts in the 3rd Courtyard of Prague Castle (28th/29th June 2007), where the spectacular Carmina Burana will be conducted by Jiří Kout.

Preparations for the new season involve a number of changes in the presentation of the PSO. A new design is being gradually introduced, with a transformation of the posters, web pages, programme brochures and so on. The PSO is also bringing out a new bulletin, which will be published three times a year and is designed chiefly for subscribers and concert-goers. Changes are also being made to methods of ticket sales, with an online system of reservations to be introduced from September. Another new feature next season is that PSO concert-goers will be able to put together their own subscription series on the basis of their own choice of concerts. This scheme will be known as Ad libitum.

A special cycle is planned for parents and children. Entitled Music to the Touch (?) or How Music is Born, it will introduce children to the basic elements of music: rhythm, melody, colour, dynamics and musical form. In association with this cycle, and in line with the PSO long-term strategy of policy focusing more attention on children as concert-goers, from the next season the PSO will be opening the FÍK Music Club, where children themselves will explore the mysteries of music under professional guidance.