The Czech Philharmonic is the foremost Czech orchestra and has long held a place among the most esteemed representatives of Czech culture on the international scene. The beginning of its rich history is linked to the name of Antonín Dvořák, who on 4 January 1896 conducted the ensemble’s inaugural concert. Although the orchestra performs a broad range of the basic international repertoire, it is sought out most often for its superb interpretations of works by the Czech classics, in a tradition built by excellent conductors like Václav Talich, Rafael Kubelík, Karel Ančerl, and Václav Neumann. The ensemble has won many international honours for its recordings, the first of which it made already in 1929: Smetana’s My Country with Talich. In 2008 the prestigious magazine Gramophone ranked it among the twenty best orchestras of the world. Since the inception of the Dvořák Prague Festival the Czech Philharmonic has been its resident orchestra.

Turning sixty years old this year, Yo-Yo Ma stands among the very highest elite of solo performers and is often called the greatest cellist of the present day. Born in Paris to a musical family of Chinese origin, at the age of five he moved with his parents to New York. He was a true child prodigy, playing the violin and viola from his early childhood before switching definitively to cello at the age of four. When only five he gave his first public performance, and when seven he played for President John F. Kennedy. He is renowned for his diverse repertoire, ranging from the unaccompanied cello suites of Johann Sebastian Bach through film music by John Williams to Chinese folk melodies. He collaborates with numerous first-class conductors, orchestras, and soloists, and has received many prestigious awards including the National Medal of Arts, the Glenn Gould Prize, and multiple Grammy Awards. Most often he plays a precious instrument from 1733 by the Italian master Domenico Montagnana.