Prague Castle International organ festival - in St. Vitus Cathedral

Soprano Markéta Fassati studied at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and is a laureate of the Emmy Destinn Competition and Ad honorem Mozart. She has performed at the National Theatre, the State Opera, the Rudolfinum, and at various international festivals. Her extensive repertoire includes Baroque opera and Romantic works, song cycles and arias, as well as contemporary styles, including jazz and film music. She collaborates with Czech and international orchestras and is one of the most sought-after performers on the Czech music scene.

Ondřej Valenta is an organist at St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, a concert organist, and a teacher at the Prague Conservatory. Between 2016 and 2024, he served as organist and choirmaster of the Royal Collegiate Chapter at Vyšehrad, where he founded the international festival “Organ Vyšehrad”. He studied at the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, and continued his education at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg and in Munich. He performs with soloists, choirs, and orchestras, and appears at festivals across the Czech Republic and in many European countries.

The program will be further enriched by a concert featuring a symphony orchestra and a special evening with a guest soloist on the French horn. A true celebration of organ music awaits. The 15th edition will be extraordinary in many respects. For the first time, the festival will feature the new and long-awaited cathedral organ. Additionally, visitors can look forward to a double portion of musical experiences, with a total of ten concert evenings.

Above the chapel is situated chamber guarding the crown jewels of Bohemian kings. The coronations of the kings of Bohemia were held in the Cathedral until 1836.  The first architect Matthias of Arras, who was called by Charles IV from Avignon, mediated the model of the French cathedral architecture. Matthias´s successor, genius Petr Parléř, gived to the cathedral and its sculptural decoration features of artistic excellence.

After the death of Charles IV the building was suspended and the cathedral remained a torso. The construction was not completed until the beginning of the 20th century, when the western part was completed and decorated by leading artists of the era (V. Sucharda, A. Mucha etc.). The St. Vitus Cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and masterpiece of art.