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.

The American violinist Hilary Hahn is one of the most sought-after performers of the present time. She began playing violin already before her fourth birthday and at the age of ten was admitted to the famous Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with the world-renowned Russian-American violinist Jascha Brodsky. At eleven she debuted as a soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Her first performance in Europe was at the age of sixteen in 1995, when she performed Beethoven's Violin Concerto in Munich with the Bavarian Radio Symphony under Lorin Maazel. Hahn appears with the most important orchestras and conductors of the world and is regularly invited to prestigious international music festivals. Her discography comprises almost two dozen recordings for Deutsche Grammophon and Sony Classical. She is known for her efforts in promoting contemporary music; several composers, including Edgar Meyer and Jennifer Higdon, have written works especially for her.