Our Supporters

“I have travelled the world. I have seen many cities, but Prague is really unique. The architectural heritage that we have received thanks to our ancestors is stunning, but also creates an obligation. Not only should we take care of this heritage carefully and pass it on to the generations to come, but we should leave something magnificent behind. We too should pass on the legacy of our time to future generations. The Vltava Philharmonic Hall will certainly accomplish this task.” 

Mezzo-soprano Dagmar Pecková studied at the Prague Conservatory and, after an engagement with the Sächsische Staatsoper in Dresden, was a member of the Staatsoper in Berlin for several years. During her successful professional career, she has appeared on leading opera and concert stages, such as Bayerische Staatsoper, Carnegie Hall New York, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Hamburgische Staatsoper, National Theatre in Prague, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Opéra National de Paris, Opernhaus Zürich, Royal Opera House Covent Garden London, San Francisco Opera, Sächsische Staatsoper, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Theater Basel, Théâtre du Châtelet Paris, Teatro Sao Carlo in Lisbon, Wigmore Hall in London, etc. 

She has performed repeatedly at prestigious international music festivals such as the Edinburgh International Festival, Salzburger Festspiele, Prague Spring, Smetana’s Litomyšl Festival and Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, where she was artist in residence in 2004. She has sung under the artistic direction of prominent conductors such as Jiří Bělohlávek, Semyon Bychkov, Sylvain Cambreling, Peter Maxwell Davies, Christoph von Dohnányi, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Manfred Honeck, Neeme Järvi, Charles Mackerras, Kent Nagano, Fabio Luisi, Václav Neumann, Libor Pešek, Kirill Petrenko, Georges Prétre, Peter Schneider, Simone Young and Wolfgang Sawallisch. 

She has repeatedly collaborated with prestigious orchestras such as the Bamberger Symphoniker, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, DSO Berlin, London Symphony, Münchner Philharmoniker, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, Orcherstre de la Suisse Romande, Pittsburg Symphony, WDR, SWR, MDR and GDR orchestras, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, PKF – Prague Philharmonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, RSO Frankfurt, Staatskapelle Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden, Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, The Philharmonia, Tonhalle Zürich, Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Symphoniker, etc. 

Her recordings have been released on the record labels Hänssler Classic, Teldec, Warner Music and Supraphon, where she releases additional albums (Wanted, Mahler’s Song of the Earth, Nativitas, The Magical Gallery and Exaltatio). She received a Supraphon Music gold record for her albums Nativitas and Wanted in 2019. 

She is also intensively involved in her own concert projects – such as the opera recital Sinful Women (2015), the cabaret revue Wanted (2017) and Christmas-themed songs Nativitas (2018) and Exaltatio (2020). She founded the Zlatá Pecka Music Festival in the city of her birth in 2017.

“Czech musical art of the past and present is one of the foremost things our country can be proud of before the rest of the world. Many artists and performers have been, and still are, among the world’s top performers for centuries. However, we still lack the facilities of modern concert halls in this category. Prague also urgently needs a space where not only the music of Mozart, Smetana and Dvořák can be heard and captivate listeners, but where we can also hear the powerful music of noble Baroque polyphony, rich compositions of great Romanticism or the latest contemporary music. Only then will we make full use of our country's precious talents in the field of musical arts. Only then will our music really shine.” 

Jakub Hrůša is one of the most active and influential representatives of Czech musical culture and the Czech conducting school in the world. He regularly performs with leading orchestras in Europe and the USA. He is currently the principal conductor of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, as well as a principal guest conductor with the Czech Philharmonic and London’s Philharmonia Orchestra. From 2009 to 2015 he served as music director and primary conductor of the PKF – Prague Philharmonia orchestra. His most important engagements include repeated invitations to the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, the Leipzig Gewandhaus and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. He is a regular guest at the BBC Proms and will make his debut at the Salzburg Festival in the coming season. Hrůša is as close to the concert repertoire as he is to opera. 

He regularly performs as a guest at the Glyndebourne Festival, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, the Opéra national de Paris and the Frankfurt Opera, as well as occasionally on Czech opera stages. He recently won the BBC Music Magazine Award for his recording of Dvořák and Martinů compositions, as well as for his DVD recording of the opera Vanessa from the Glyndebourne Festival. Active interest in Josef Suk, son-in-law of Antonín Dvořák, was reflected in his work at the Dvořák Prague Festival last year and in the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra’s last season. Suk’s complete orchestral work is now his priority recording project. The common denominator of his activities abroad is primarily the relentless promotion of works by Czech composers. In 2020, the Academy of Classical Music awarded him the Antonín Dvořák Award for this activity.

“I’m extremely pleased that every day we are moving closer to laying the foundation stone for a new concert hall on the banks of the Vltava. A cultural facility that has been talked about for a long time and which Prague undoubtedly deserves. Judging by the architectural plans and visuals, it will be a gem. A gem that will be a wonderful window into our cultural souls, a place where different cultures from around the world will meet ordinary Praguers. A concert hall with amazing acoustics that will allow us to take appreciation of the world’s best orchestras to an even higher level. And not just appreciation of them. The Vltava Philharmonic Hall will be that and much more.”

Pavel Šporcl is a Czech violin virtuoso who, thanks to his technical skill and unconventional performances, has become popular with audiences in concert halls such as the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt and Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles. He has performed at major international music festivals such as the Salzburger Festspiele, Prague Spring, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and Festival Radio France. He has collaborated with leading orchestras worldwide (Czech Philharmonic, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Royal Liverpool Philharmonc Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, etc.) and played under the baton of top conductors (Vladimir Ashkenazy, Libor Pešek, Jiří Bělohlávek, Vladimir Fedoseyev, etc.). 

The Czech violinist’s extensive repertoire includes over 40 violin concertos, countless sonatas, chamber and virtuoso works. In addition to the emphasis on Czech composers and the basic repertoire, he also focuses on contemporary music. In addition to his core repertoire of classical music, he has also been involved in other musical genres, and his love of gypsy violin virtuosos led to the successful Gipsy Way and Gipsy Fire albums. 

Šporcl is a tireless populariser and promoter of classical music who also regularly performs at benefit projects for foundations and non-profit organisations.

“Czech musical culture is a living organism that, despite historical and social changes, still pulses with the rhythm of the guiding element of our identity and is thus strong proof of our musicality to the whole world. Music is an integral part of our lives and we can be truly grateful for a high-quality musical education system that nurtures new cultured generations of young musicians and enthusiastic listeners.

Like every musician longing for a first-class musical instrument with which to fully exploit the colourful range of their imagination, an orchestra longs to play its instruments in a concert hall reaching the quality of Stradivari’ instruments. 

Giving Prague a new concert hall is not only a noble and visionary act, but also, when we look back at it, a certain duty, a thank you to all the outstanding musicians and composers who have enchanted the world with their music and interpretations.” 

Principal conductor and artistic director of the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK from the 2025/26 season, founder and artistic director of Academy Kroměříž and former general music director of the Aalto Musik Theater and Philharmonie Essen (2013–2023). He is one of the most sought-after Czech conductors of our time and has long collaborated with the Czech Philharmonic, where he has been principal guest conductor and continues to perform as a guest. 

He regularly conducts the world’s leading orchestras and in opera houses, including in Vienna, Dresden, Geneva, Tokyo and Monte Carlo. In the 2023/24 concert season, he prepared productions of Janáček’s Jenůfa, Dvořák’s Rusalka and three Mozart operas in Geneva, Tokyo and Cologne. He has performed on concert stages with the Orchestre National de France, the Vienna Symphony, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. 

He studied conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and the Royal Academy in Stockholm with Jorma Panula. He is a laureate of the Sir George Solti Competition in Frankfurt and the winner of the Grand Prize of the Aspen Conducting Academy in the US. His extensive discography includes award-winning recordings for Supraphon, Pentatone and other prestigious labels.

“The motives for my agreement are simple: an aging man, strongly involved in music, production and the related business, very happy to keep his finger on the pulse of the times and perhaps modestly help a good cause that will surely outlive him. So help us God, I just want to add. So let’s get to it...” 

A graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, he received his Ph.D. in philosophy and psychology from the Charles University Faculty of Arts. He became a respected jazzman and leader of the legendary Jazz Q group, with whom he recorded several dozen albums in the Czech Republic and Europe. He also performs in an acoustic formation with American guitarist Tony Ackerman and Iranian percussionist Imran Musa Zangi. At one time he was the best domestic keyboard player and a pioneer in playing the synthesiser. 

He has also composed music for eleven feature films and about five hundred documentaries. After 1989, he became the producer of the first privately funded film (The Tank Battalion). 

He founded Bonton, a multimedia group with a dominant position in the entertainment market, in 1988. Currently a conglomerate of eighteen companies, it has found new owners. Kratochvíl devotes himself entirely to performing, composing and recording music and documentary films at his Studio Budíkov. 

He is passionate about Himalayan climbing and a private pilot.

“Thanks to excellent acoustics and a modern environment, many concert halls around the world have become not only a venue, but an integral part of the artistic performance, i.e. a kind of instrument of instruments capable of conveying to the audience an artistic performance of unprecedented quality in a 21st century setting. They also offer the necessary capacity of the main hall and social spaces, as well as facilities and technical equipment for performers, spectators and organisers appropriate to the times. Prague urgently needs to supplement both historical halls with an alternative modern space and thus free them up for further use, which corresponds to their qualities, but also to numerous limits.  

The absence of such a building with the corresponding qualities of the main hall increasingly weakens Prague’s position as a musical metropolis. This is painful both in view of the truly unique historical musical heritage of Prague and the Czech lands, and in view of the strong position of contemporary Czech performers and musicians. The situation has become unbearable even on a national scale, when Brno is already building its new hall and Ostrava has made significant steps towards implementation. What is quite galvanizing in general is the fact that Prague, in contrast to the relatively short period of the First Republic, has completely given up on the construction of public buildings. Taking into account the need to humanise the environment of the Vltava and thus move towards the urbanisation of the entire Bubny area, we are faced not only with a need or necessity, but with a duty!”  

Roman Bělor is a member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, cultural manager and former director of the Prague Spring International Music Festival. After completing his studies in economics and management at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague (1977–1982, Ing.), he worked in technology for several years, but his active interest in music and culture brought him into the world of cultural management after 1989. He became the manager of the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK In 1990 and its director in 1992. He served as chairman of the Association of Symphony Orchestra Directors of the Czech Republic in 1997–2001. In addition, he was a member of the Prague Spring Advisory Committee from 1993 to 2001. He participated in the preparations for the successful candidacy of the City of Prague for the title of European City of Culture for the year 2000. The management board of the Prague Spring Festival appointed him director in 2001 and from the same year he also held the position of deputy chairman of the Association of Music Festivals of the Czech Republic. As a member of the advisory board, in 2003–2005 he also participated in preparations for Czech participation at EXPO 2005 in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. He served as the main organiser and chairman of the world conference of the International Artist Managers’ Association (IAMA) held in Prague in April 2005.  

For his contribution to cultural cooperation between the Czech Republic and France, he was appointed Knight (Chevalier) in 1995 and Officer (Officier) of the Order of Arts and Letters (Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) of the French Republic in 2001. He became a member of the Council of the UNESCO International Fund for Promotion of Culture in 2012.  

Since 1998, he has been teaching as a guest lecturer at the Music Management Department at the Music and Dance Faculty at the Academy of Performing Arts.  

In 2010, he co-founded and is now the chairman of the Association for the Construction of a New Concert Hall in Prague and a member of the Prague City Coordination Committee created to achieve this goal. In addition to music, he is interested in visual arts and modern history. He is a member of the Mánes Association of Fine Artists and the Club for Old Prague.

“The city’s development is not just due to the growing population or the extension of the metro. Cultural development and building public spaces are also essential elements. Sadly, in the last hundred years, no major public building has been built in the capital that is architecturally interesting in an international context and that has significantly influenced the city’s development. The Vltava Philharmonic Hall combines both the cultural and urban planning aspects. The construction of this building will help to move our capital into the 21st century. It is an honour for me to be part of the process of building the Vltava Philharmonic Hall and I will be glad if I can contribute to the project’s success.”  

Zdeněk Tůma graduated from the University of Economics in Prague and completed his postgraduate studies at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. In the early 1990s, he helped restore economic education at Charles University, where he was later appointed associate professor. He continues to teach at the Institute of Economic Studies, attached to Charles University’s Faculty of Social Sciences, focusing on central banking and financial regulation. He was chief economist at Patria Finance, and a member of the executive committee at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in 1998. He was appointed deputy governor of the Czech National Bank in February 1999 and became governor in December 2000. He held this position until 2010. In the last decade, he was a partner at KPMG Czech Republic, focusing on consulting in the financial sector.  

He is currently the chairman of the ČSOB supervisory board. He has been or is a member of a number of scientific or governing boards at several universities. He is a member of the Czech Economic Society, where he served as president from 1999 to 2001.

“Prague is a cultural capital of global importance and Czech music is an important part of world heritage. Even though we have the Rudolfinum and we also have Municipal House, we lack a modern and truly large concert complex with top-quality parameters. It’s high time to fix this. The Vltava Philharmonic Hall is an ambitious and representative project, the realisation of which would give our country the great cultural and social prestige that it rightly deserves.” 

As director of the Academy of Classical Music (ACM), he was involved in the birth of the international Dvořák Prague Music Festival, the first year of which was held in 2008. A graduate of the Brno University of Technology, he also served in both chambers of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, becoming a deputy in the 1990s and also a senator at the start of the 2000s. Together with intendant Vladimír Darjanin, he created and built the Dvořák Prague Festival into a project that is currently one of the most important cultural events in the Czech Republic. 

As part of its activities, the ACM is behind the Antonín Dvořák Award and the Cultural Leadership Summit, an educational programme for Czech cultural managers. In 2018, he and the current intendant Jan Simon expanded the ACM’s portfolio to include other activities – the international Concertino Praga competition in cooperation with Czech Radio and the Dvořák Prague Young Philharmonic Orchestra project, based at Academy Kroměříž. He also focuses on publishing activities. Robert Kolář has worked in the statutory bodies of the oil company Moravské naftové doly in Hodonín since 1998 and subsequently in other companies in the KKCG group.

“Musical Prague will enter the 21st century with the Vltava Philharmonic Hall. It will open up new options for audiences and create conditions for musical life to flourish in the capital, as well as in the whole country. It will be living proof that even a geographically small country can be a great power in classical music, not only when looking back to the past. The Vltava Philharmonic Hall will be a testament to the sophistication of our time for generations to come. As an ambassador for the project, Prague Spring will arrange performances by the best artists from all over the world at the Vltava Philharmonic Hall and will deepen the connection between the domestic scene and world events through special festival projects.”

Pavel Trojan

Director of Prague Spring

The first two years of the international Prague Spring festival were a phenomenal success. In 1946, it was the first time Leonard Bernstein conducted outside the American continent. It was the place pianist Rudolf Firkušný performed for the last time in 44 years in Czechoslovakia, and the composer Dmitri Shostakovich also came a year later.

To this day, the festival is based on the interaction and confrontation of the best domestic and international performing artists. It opens new horizons by presenting works by Czech and international composers in world or Czech premieres and by presenting projects that are being realised in the Czech Republic for the very first time. Currently, Prague Spring is the classical music festival with the longest tradition in the Czech Republic. In 2025, it will welcome audiences for the 80th year, making it one of the festivals with the longest history worldwide.

“Music is a specific language of art and has the power to cultivate its listener and connect them with other art lovers. The Vltava Philharmonic Hall – like the Rudolfinum, which was also called a Temple of Arts in the past – will serve exactly these purposes: cultivating the spirit and bringing people together. The Czech Philharmonic has been striving for the same goals throughout its existence.”

“The concert hall is an opportunity. It would be great if the people of Prague could hear their Prague Symphony Orchestra in a way that until now only audiences at top foreign venues can experience when the orchestra tours. I say this as an interested participant in the nascent Vltava Philharmonic Hall. But as a Prague resident, I have a much more important context in mind: the concert hall is a powerful and complex impulse for the development of the city, its quality of life, its transport infrastructure, a marketing gauntlet thrown down to the whole world, a profitable tourist attraction. I consider it fortunate and prudent when a concert hall, not another shopping mall, office complex or parking zone, becomes such a initiator.”

“Almost 130 years ago, the Municipal Library of Prague established the oldest and largest public music library in the Czech Republic. And for a number of years we have been thinking about moving to the future Vltava Philharmonic Hall. It will become not only a logical and synergistic part of the natural centre of musical life, but also in the best sense of the word – a Trojan horse opening the doors of the philharmonic hall to nearly two hundred thousand regular library users. Thanks to this, the philharmonic hall will be an open and lively place of culture all day long; a place that will become an inspiration for other European capitals in the field of combining cutting-edge music and cultivated public space.”