About the Festival
The Music Festival in Prague, Václav Hudeček and His Guests, represents one of the longest chamber music festivals held in the capital city of Prague. Its artistic guarantor and founder is an important Czech virtuoso, a legend of the Czech violin school, and a student of David Oistrach, Václav Hudeček. He has been inviting renowned musicians to his concerts for 30 years and simultaneously giving space to young talents. It creates the uniqueness of the Festival in the Prague cultural context.
Personalities such as the renowned mezzo-soprano Dagmar Pecková, who works on leading European stages, cellist Jiří Bárta and horn player Radek Baborák, whose places of work include the Berlin and Munich Philharmonic, have had the opportunity, at the beginning of their musical careers, to perform at the Festival. In the past years, Václav Hudeček introduced, among others, talented pianists Jaroslava Pěchočová and Lukáš Klánský, first ladies of the Czech harp Kateřina Englichová and Jana Boušková, winners of prestigious foreign awards, or young violinists Josef Špaček, Jan Mráček, and Petr Matěják.
Since 2013, the festival has been developing cooperation with the Prague Conservatory, also with very positive responses from the audience. The most talented students get the opportunity to perform with renowned artists in front of sold-out halls.
As part of the opening of the 21st year, the successful Czech debut of the virtuoso Italian orchestra Interpreti Veneziani took place.
The Festival is traditionally held under the auspices of The President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, The President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, the Mayor of Prague 1, the Minister of Culture and the Mayor of the Prague.
Václav Hudecek
Founder and Artistic Director of the Music Festival
Václav Hudeček began his steep journey between the Czech and international interpretation elite in the 1960s. On November 12, 1967, at the age of fifteen, he performed at a concert in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The legendary David Oistrach heard his performance a day later and predicted a great future. Therefore, he offered Hudeček tutoring. Václav Hudeček was a student of this great Master from 1970 until Oistrach died in 1974. At the same time, he completed his studies at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts in the class of Prof. Václav Snítil.
Since his London debut, Václav Hudeček has performed around the world on the most prestigious stages (Carnegie Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Suntory Hall, Osaka Festival Hall, Sydney Opera), with the world's best orchestras (Berliner Philharmonic, Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, NHK Philharmonic Orchestra, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Moscow State Philharmonic and others), as well as at world festivals (Osaka, Salzburg, Istanbul, Perth, Helsinki). He still claims the legacy of David Oistrach and other giants of the Russian violin school. Therefore, as evidenced by their joint recordings, he purposefully cooperates with the bearers of the Oistrach, Kogan, and Sitkovetsky traditions.
photo by Radovan Šubín
Hudeček's sympathetic demeanor and especially the style of his playing, combining technical sovereignty with a fervently composed and emotionally rich tone and with the joy that he is able to transmit to the audience in a straightforward way, he charms the audience
regardless of age. His recording of Vivaldi's Le quattro stagioni with the conductor Pavel Kogan has been the most successful production in the Czech Republic since 1992. Furthermore, he won a gold record and a platinum record for it in 1997. He also received gold records for his other recordings. Václav Hudeček devotes himself to the compositions of the old masters but also expands his repertoire spectrum and includes works of the 20th century (Janáček, Prokofjev) and compositions by contemporary Czech composers (Kymlička, Fišer, Mácha).
He systematically takes care of helping the emerging Czech interpretation generation. He organizes summer violin courses annually in Luhačovice, and the best participants become guests at his concerts, such as traditional Christmas tours or at the Festival of Music Festival in Prague, Litoměřice Festival of Music, etc.
In 2007, on the occasion of the national holiday on October 28, Václav Klaus, the President of the Czech Republic, awarded Václav Hudečel a high state award "For services to the state in the field of culture and art." In October 2012, he received the silver medal of the capital city of Prague from the hands of the mayor as a special sign of respect and appreciation for his artistic contribution and merit for the development of Prague's cultural scene. In 2015, the Italian president awarded him the prestigious state award of the Knights of the Italian Star. In 2018, he received the Prize of the Czech Center of the International Music Council of UNESCO of the Czech Music Council for long-term successful artistic and pedagogical support of the youngest generation of Czech artists. In June 2022, on the occasion of his life jubilee, V. Hudeček was awarded the medal of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic for spreading the good name of Czech culture at home and abroad "Artis Bohemiae Amicis" and received Honorary Citizenship of the Capital City of Prague from the hands of the mayor.
