Prague Spring Gives Beethoven a Bamberg Residency

The Bamberg Symphony will become Prague Spring’s first orchestra in residence in 2027, performing all nine Beethoven symphonies under Jakub Hrůša during the bicentenary of the composer’s death.

The residency anchors the festival’s 82nd edition, running from 12 May to 2 June. It gives the programme a continuing ensemble presence rather than relying entirely on a succession of visiting orchestras, with the Beethoven cycle creating a sustained thread across the festival.

The opening brings another first. The Seoul Philharmonic will be the first non-European orchestra to open Prague Spring, placing an Asian ensemble at the beginning of a festival strongly associated with Czech and European musical traditions.

Pianist Igor Levit is artist in residence. His engagements include Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto with the Czech Philharmonic, solo sonatas and the First Piano Trio with violinist Renaud Capuçon and cellist Julia Hagen. The range connects the composer’s public orchestral voice with chamber music and the piano alone.

The Vienna Philharmonic offers a contrasting focus through an all-John Adams programme, including Short Ride in a Fast Machine, a new piano concerto and Harmonielehre. The Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra appears with Joshua Bell directing and playing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.

Other announced artists include Anne-Sophie Mutter, Magdalena Kožená, Jakub Józef Orliński and Sabine Devieilhe. Ensemble Modern completes the final year of a three-year residency, while jazz also has a place in the broader programme.

Ticket sales began on 4 November. The festival’s design gives audiences several ways to follow it: through a complete symphonic cycle, a resident pianist’s different partnerships, or individual appearances by major international artists. Its most distinctive structural change is Bamberg’s residency, bringing continuity of players and conductor to an event otherwise defined by the variety of its guests.