South Bohemian Nové Hrady Music Festival 2026

From July 22 to 27, the 11th edition of the South Bohemian Nové Hrady Music Festival took place. The festival featured a total of five major concerts, with the opening event held on July 22 at Nové Hrady Castle, where The CELLO BOYS performed. The opening concert offered a profound experience for a wide audience, uniquely bringing together classical music, rock, and pop.

The following day, the outstanding Czech violin virtuoso Jaroslav Svěcený performed in Unserfrau, Austria, at the GALA CONCERT OF THREE GENERATIONS, together with one of the finest contemporary clarinetists, Anna Paulová, and the acclaimed guitarist and composer Lukáš Sommer. That evening celebrated the beauty of music from the 19th to the 21st centuries, and from the very first moment it was clear that this would be one of the highlights of this year's music festival.

The following day, Nové Hrady Castle hosted the ELLABORATION concert, featuring singer Dasha alongside the Epoque Quartet in a unique combination of string quartet and percussion. The legacy of jazz icon Ella Fitzgerald permeated the atmosphere of the evening before being transformed into distinctive and deeply personal musical experiences.

On July 26, the festival moved to the church in Trhové Sviny, where the evening centred on the leading cimbalom player Dalibor Štrunc and his acclaimed musical ensemble. The distinctive character of the CIMBÁL CLASSIC DALIBOR ŠTRUNC concert emerged from the combination of Jaroslav Svěcený's violin and the cimbalom, bringing beautiful compositions to life.

The fifth and final concert, THE BAROQUE CELEBRATION, held on July 27, became the traditional highlight of the festival, taking place in Dobrá Voda. In the local church, the outstanding violin virtuoso Jaroslav Svěcený performed alongside the phenomenal Czech trumpeter Jiří Houdek, accompanied by the chamber orchestra Virtuosi Pragenses. Vivaldi's compositions, performed by Mr. Houdek, together with G. Ph. Telemann's concerto in Mr. Svěcený's interpretation, brought the festival to a magnificent close, celebrating one of the most natural and timeless forms of artistic expression embodied by this musical era.