Familia

The Summer Festivities of Early Music are the largest and oldest continually running festival focussing on historical performing arts organised in Prague. Since its establishment in 2000 it has become acknowledged for its carefully prepared, thematic programming and for the high level of performance guaranteed by some of the foremost specialists – instrumentalists and ensembles, vocal artists, conductors, dance and theatre companies – from various countries around the world. Many festival projects introduce historical music in modern Czech or world premieres. Owing to the presentation of interdisciplinary projects combining period music with baroque dance and theatre the undertaking is unique among early music festivals not only in the Czech Republic, but in the whole of Central Europe.

The organiser, Collegium Marianum, is an educational and cultural centre with 33 years of experience in the area of historical arts. Since 2000 the main focus of the organisation’s cultural activity has been the Summer Festivities of Early Music. The festival is a proud recipient of the prestigious EFFE Label 2024–2025. There is no doubt that music can play an irreplaceable role within the family environment. But what role has the family played in the musical development of past centuries? The 26th edition of the Summer Festivities of Early Music international festival, subtitled FAMILIA, presents the motif of the family in various contexts of European music history. The programme will explore kinship ties that have been influential and significant in the music of historical stylistic periods from the Middle Ages to the High Baroque. The programmes will present not only the diversity of different “national” schools and traditions, especially in Baroque music, but also the variety of artistic forms and their contemporary reception.