The Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra is one of the most important and oldest orchestras in the Czech Republic. For many decades, it has been a versatile orchestra with a broad repertoire of concert music and opera. Among the permanent and guest conductors to work with the orchestra have been Václav Talich, Karel Ančerl, Václav Neumann, Vladimír Válek, and Charles Mackerras. Its present chief conductor is Alexander Liebreich. A number of composers from around the world have performed their own works with the orchestra, including Sergei Prokofiev and Aram Khachaturian. The orchestra has always been heavily involved with recording activity, and it has to its credit the making of recordings of many Czech classics that are not a usual part of the repertoire. This is not its first appearance at the Dvořák Prague Festival: in 2014, for example, it took part in the world premiere complete concert performance of Dvořák’s first opera Alfred with its original German libretto, and in 2019 it gave a unique performance of Dvořák’s first musical setting of the libretto King and Collier in a modern-era premiere.

The renowned German conductor Alexander Liebreich is a graduate of the Munich University of Music and the Performing Arts and of the Mozarteum in Salzburg. The beginning of his artistic career was influenced significantly by Claudio Abbado, who invited him to collaborate with the Berlin Philharmonic at the Salzburger Osterfestspiele. From 2006 to 2016 he was the chief conductor of the Munich Chamber Orchestra, and in 2012 he took the helm of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. During his career, he has collaborated with many first-class orchestras around the world (including the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich) and with illustrious soloists (Krystian Zimerman, Gautier Capuçon, Isabelle Faust). Besides his conducting activities, he is also known as an initiator and promoter of new musical projects. For example, since 2015 he has been the artistic director of a new festival, Katowice Kultura Natura. Beginning with the current season, he is the chief conductor of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra.

The Slovak Philharmonic Choir was founded in 1946 as the Bratislava Radio Mixed Choir under the leadership of the conductor Ladislav Slovák. In 1957 it was organisationally combined with the Slovak Philharmonic, and it gained its present name. During over half a century of the choir’s artistic activities, it has established itself as an ensemble of extraordinary quality, as is indicated by its collaborations with renowned conductors from around the world including Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Antonio Pedrotti, Helmuth Rilling, and many others. Besides its regular concert activities in its homeland, the choir also goes on tours abroad several times each year. It has appeared in most European countries as well as Morocco, Turkey, and Japan. It collaborates with prestigious foreign orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, and the Israel Philharmonic. The choir also has an extensive discography to its credit with recordings for a number of distinguished labels (Deutsche Grammophon, Naxos, Decca, Opus, and Supraphon among others).

The Australian baritone Samuel Dale Johnson is a graduate of the Queensland Conservatory. He first studied piano and percussion, but a choirmaster at the school noticed his obvious talent as a singer and recommended that he study solo singing. Already as a student, he was performing a number of important roles, such as Count Almaviva (The Marriage of Figaro), Gianni Schicchi, Pandolfe (La Cenerentola), Tonio and Silvio (Pagliacci), and Peter Quince (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and he also sang the title role in a staged production of Handel’s oratorio Saul. During past seasons, he has performed on a number of important opera stages, including the Scottish Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and the Northern Ireland Opera. His most important success so far was has been his repeated appearances at London’s Royal Opera in Covent Garden, where he has sung the roles of Silvio in Pagliacci, Theseus in George Enescu’s opera Oidipus, Moralès in Bizet’s Carmen, and Zalzal in Emmanuel Chabrier’s L'étoile.

The English tenor Oliver Johnston graduated from London’ Royal Academy of Music. In 2016 he was selected for the Young Singers Project, through which the Salzburg Festival supports young, extraordinarily talented artists. Among the most important roles he has portrayed on the operatic stage are Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème, Pedrillo in Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio, Giuseppe in Verdi’s La traviata, and Rinuccio in Puccini’s opera Gianni Schicchi. He has also sung the role of Melchior in the world premiere of Britten’s opera Wakening Shadow with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the conductor Vladimir Jurowski. He met with great acclaim for his performance in the title role of the opera Billy Budd by the same composer in New York under the baton of Mark Elder. He gives frequent solo recitals. His performances have included appearances at London’s Wigmore Hall, at the London Handel Festival, and the Chichester Festival. He has recorded little-known Schubert cantatas for BBC Radio 3.

Mezzo soprano Veronika Hajnová is a graduate of the Bratislava Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. She has also take part in numerous master classes in this country and in Germany. While a student, she sang with the opera ensemble of the Josef Kajetán Tyl Theatre in Pilsen, first as a guest and later as an ensemble member. Since 2004 she has been a soloist with the State Opera in Prague, and she is currently engaged at the National Theatre in Prague and the National Theatre in Brno. Among her most important roles are Tchaikovsky’s Olga, Verdi’s Amneris and Azucena, Janáček’s Kostelnička, Dvořák’s Ježibaba, Bizet’s Carmen, and Wagner’s Venus. In the roles of Amneris and Carmen, she has also appeared on tour several times abroad in Japan, Spain, Portugal, France, Hungary, and elsewhere. Her concert repertoire includes Zefka from Janáček’s Diary of One Who Disappeared, the mezzo-soprano part in Verdi’s Requiem, and Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder. In 2003 and 2010 she was nominated for a Thalia Award.

For decades, the phenomenal Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman has been one of the most respected masters of his craft. A graduate of the Karol Szymanovski Academy of Music in Katovice, while a student he already earned a number of awards at international competitions, including first prize at the Chopin International Piano Competition as one of the youngest competitors. At twenty years of age, he made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic, and three years later with the New York Philharmonic. Thanks to the perfectionism with which he prepares himself for every performance, he gives concerts relatively seldom. He is best known for his interpretations of music of the Romantic era, but his range of repertoire is enormously broad, and he promotes music by contemporary composers including Witold Lutosławski, who dedicated his Piano Concerto to him in 1988. So far, he has made more than thirty CD recordings, mostly on the Deutsche Grammophon label. He also devotes himself to teaching – for over twenty years, he has been teaching piano at the Academy of Music in Basel.