The Prague Philharmonia was founded in 1994 by Jiří Bělohlávek as the Prague Chamber Philharmonic, an ensemble consisting of recent graduates of music schools. Maestro Bělohlávek was at the orchestra’s helm until 2005, when his successor for three concert seasons was the Swiss conductor Kaspar Zehnder. From 2008 until 2016 Jakub Hrůša was the orchestra’s chief conductor and artistic director. Since the 2015/2016 season, the French conductor Emmanuel Villaume has been at the orchestra’s helm. Since the orchestra’s inception, its core repertoire has been the music of the Viennese Classical period, supplemented by compositions from the Romantic era and a special concert series with music of the twentieth century. During its twenty-three years of activity, the orchestra has established itself as one of the most distinguished Czech ensembles, and it also appears regularly on stages abroad. It has so far recorded more than 80 albums for top international labels (Deutsche Grammophon, Harmonia Mundi, Decca) and has won numerous prestigious awards for these recordings. At the beginning of 2020, the orchestra went on a three-week European tour with the world-famous tenor Jonas Kaufmann.

The American violinist Gil Shaham belongs to the absolute elite of the world in his field, having won his outstanding renown thanks to a combination of flawless technique and ardent, intelligent expression. He began studying violin at the age of seven and only three years later debuted as soloist under the baton of Zubin Mehta with the Israel Philharmonic. His formal training included study at several music schools in succession, including the famous Juilliard School in New York. He has performed with practically all the world's most important orchestras and recorded more than thirty albums, among them the most important violin concertos (including Vivaldi's The Four Seasons) and Bach's sonatas and partitas for unaccompanied violin. Many prestigious international honours have been bestowed on him, including a Grammy Award. Shaham performed for Prague audiences with great success already in 2009 and 2015 in concerts of the Strings of Autumn Festival. He plays one of the most precious instruments by Antonio Stradivari, the 'Comtesse de Polignac' from 1699.

French conductor Emmanuel Villaume was born in Strasbourg where he graduated from the conservatoire. He then continued his education in Paris, earning diplomas in literature, philosophy, and musicology. For several seasons he served as artistic director and chief conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic and chief conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic. He conducts in many opera houses of the world including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Milan’s La Scala, La Fenice in Venice, and the Royal Opera (Covent Garden) in London. He has also led such prestigious orchestras as the Chicago Symphony, the Boston Symphony, L’Orchestre de Paris, L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and the Danish National Symphony among many others. For nine seasons he held the post of music director for the opera and orchestra of the Spoleto Festival in the USA. He records for prestigious labels: Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, and EMI. Since the 2015-16 season he has been chief conductor and artistic director of the Prague Philharmonia.