25 of 40 guests
Composers
Twenty-five composers, every one of them in the hall for their own premiere.
Composer · Denmark
Alma Ravn
Writes for orchestras the way other people write for rooms — she asks how far apart the players can sit before an ensemble stops being one. Her 2025 piece for divided strings was performed with the two halves in separate buildings.
Opening nightWed 15 April · Rudolfinum
On distance and ensembleThu 16 April, 11:00
Commissioning without a budgetSat 18 April, 09:30
Composer · Czech Republic
Teodor Vlasák
Spent six years transcribing the sound of Prague's tram network before writing a note of his own. The resulting cycle uses the exact pitches of eleven junctions, and he still refuses to say which ones.
Orchestral seriesThu 16 – Fri 17 April
Field recording as scoreFri 17 April, 11:00
Composer · Japan
Hiroko Serizawa
Her scores specify silence in seconds rather than rests, which players describe as either liberating or unbearable. She has written that a hall's empty sound is the only instrument she trusts completely.
Opening nightWed 15 April · Rudolfinum
Notating silenceSat 18 April, 11:00
Composer · Brazil
Carla Ferreira dos Santos
Writes fast, loud, and for far too many percussionists. Her commission for the opening night calls for nine players and a hall that can take it, which is why it is being performed in Karlín rather than upstream.
Opening nightWed 15 April · Rudolfinum
Writing for too manySun 19 April, 11:00
Composer · Iceland
Sigrún Halldórsdóttir
Works almost exclusively with amateur choirs, on the grounds that professionals have already decided what a voice should sound like. Her closing commission is for the festival chorus and 300 members of the public.
PremieresAcross the week
The unrehearsed voiceMon 20 April, 11:00
Composer · Norway
Britta Solheim
Britta writes for players who will never meet before the downbeat. Their last commission ran forty minutes without a written pulse.
On distance and ensembleThu 16 April, 11:00
Composer · Poland
Emil Nowak
Emil builds pieces around a single sustained note. The premiere was played twice in one evening, at the audience's request.
Opening nightWed 15 April · Rudolfinum
Composer · Ghana
Kwame Adjei
Kwame works only with instruments older than the performers. Two of their pieces exist only as parts; the full score was never assembled.
Opening nightWed 15 April · Rudolfinum
Composer · France
Léa Fontaine
Léa treats the conductor as optional and says so in the front matter. The work was written in eleven days and rehearsed for six weeks.
Orchestral seriesThu 16 – Fri 17 April
Notating what cannot be playedFri 17 April, 11:00
Composer · Colombia
Andrés Quintana
Andrés starts every piece from a recording of somewhere. The score carries a footnote longer than the piece.
Opening nightWed 15 April · Rudolfinum
Composer · Sweden
Freya Lindqvist
Freya refuses to fix a tempo before the dress rehearsal. It has been recorded once, badly, and they prefer it that way.
Orchestral seriesThu 16 – Fri 17 April
Rooms as instrumentsSat 18 April, 11:00
Composer · Ethiopia
Rahel Bekele
Rahel writes for amateur players and professional listeners. They rehearse standing in the audience rather than at the front.
Opening nightWed 15 April · Rudolfinum
Composer · Greece
Ilias Papadakis
Ilias has not used a bar line since 2022. Their last commission ran forty minutes without a written pulse.
Commissioning without a budgetSun 19 April, 11:00
Composer · Ireland
Nora Whelan
Nora writes for the seats as much as for the stage. The premiere was played twice in one evening, at the audience's request.
Opening nightWed 15 April · Rudolfinum
Composer · Romania
Bogdan Iliescu
Bogdan composes exclusively at the piano and never plays it. They have turned down more commissions than they have accepted, on principle.
Composer · Czech Republic
Klara Novotná
Klara writes for players who will never meet before the downbeat. The work was written in eleven days and rehearsed for six weeks.
Late sessionsNightly from 22:00
The score after the premiereMon 20 April, 11:00
Composer · Germany
Tobias Reinhardt
Tobias builds pieces around a single sustained note. They have conducted the same piece in nine countries and changed it in each.
Orchestral seriesThu 16 – Fri 17 April
Composer · Finland
Jussi Rantanen
Jussi works only with instruments older than the performers. The score carries a footnote longer than the piece.
Composer · Poland
Marek Zieliński
Marek composes in the hall, at night, with the lights off. They rehearse standing in the audience rather than at the front.
Composer · Serbia
Vera Stankovic
Vera writes for amateur players and professional listeners. The premiere was played twice in one evening, at the audience's request.
Composer · India
Meera Raghavan
Meera notates dynamics as distances rather than volumes. Two of their pieces exist only as parts; the full score was never assembled.
Late sessionsNightly from 22:00
Composer · Austria
Lukas Bauer
Lukas has not used a bar line since 2022. The work was written in eleven days and rehearsed for six weeks.
What an orchestra forgetsSat 18 April, 11:00
8 of 40 guests
Conductors
Eight conductors, most of whom rehearse from the stalls rather than the podium.
Conductor · United Kingdom
Ines Okonkwo
Conducts almost entirely from memory and rehearses without a podium. She has premiered nineteen works in the last four years and has a standing rule that composers sit in the hall rather than backstage.
PremieresAcross the week
Rehearsing from the stallsFri 17 April, 09:30
Conductor · Italy
Rosa Marchetti
Rosa scores for rooms rather than for ensembles. They have turned down more commissions than they have accepted, on principle.
Orchestral seriesThu 16 – Fri 17 April
Conductor · Estonia
Dmitri Ivanov-Krause
Dmitri composes in the hall, at night, with the lights off. They have conducted the same piece in nine countries and changed it in each.
Conductor · Netherlands
Sanne de Vries
Sanne notates dynamics as distances rather than volumes. Three of the parts are optional and nobody agrees which.
Conductor · Sierra Leone
Amara Sesay
Amara makes scores that fit on one page. Two of their pieces exist only as parts; the full score was never assembled.
Late sessionsNightly from 22:00
Conductor · Hungary
Zsófia Barta
Zsófia treats the conductor as optional and says so in the front matter. It has been recorded once, badly, and they prefer it that way.
Writing for strangersThu 16 April, 11:00
Conductor · Denmark
Tomás Bergström
Tomás builds long pieces out of very short ones. They have turned down more commissions than they have accepted, on principle.
4 of 40 guests
Instrument makers
Four makers, and four of this week’s premieres use instruments that did not exist eighteen months ago.
Instrument maker · Türkiye
Yusuf Demirtaş
Makes microtonal instruments to order and then teaches orchestras to play alongside them. Four of the premieres this week use instruments that did not exist eighteen months ago.
Late sessionsNightly from 22:00
Instrument maker · Japan
Mei Tanaka
Mei writes parts that are easier to play than to read. Their instruments are built to order and never twice the same way.
Instrument maker · Spain
Paloma Ruiz
Paloma scores for rooms rather than for ensembles. Their instruments are built to order and never twice the same way.
Instrument maker · Finland
Signe Aalto
Signe writes for the seats as much as for the stage. They have conducted the same piece in nine countries and changed it in each.
3 of 40 guests
Sound designers
Three designers amplifying halls that were never meant to be amplified.
Sound designer · Germany
Matthias Böhler
Builds the amplification for halls that were never meant to be amplified. Worked on the Rudolfinum installation for this festival, which uses forty-one speakers and is meant to be inaudible as a system.
Sound designer · Czech Republic
Otto Marek
Otto builds long pieces out of very short ones. The commission was funded entirely by the players who premiered it.
Sound designer · Iceland
Halldór Jónsson
Halldór starts every piece from a recording of somewhere. Three of the parts are optional and nobody agrees which.
2027 edition
Partners
The festival is funded by a mix of public money, foundations and companies who have mostly been with us since the first edition.
Principal partners
- Ministry of Culture
- City of Prague
- Czech Music Fund
Major partners
- Bohemia Energy
- Sázava Foundation
- Nová Banka
- Vltava Print
- Karlín Development
Media partners
- Czech Radio Vltava
- Harmonie
- A2
- Radio Classic
- Opera Plus
- Full Moon
Supported by
- Goethe-Institut
- Institut français
- Nordic House
- Adam Mickiewicz Institute
- Pro Helvetia
- British Council
- Italian Cultural Institute
- Instituto Cervantes