Prague Sounds

Prague Sounds is a music festival based in Prague, Czech Republic. It was founded in 1996 as Strings of Autumn by current director Marek Vrabec and Martin Pechanec, and has since established itself as one of the country's foremost music events, noted for its eclectic programming which takes in jazz, hip-hop, electronica, contemporary classical music, and song. The festival changed its name to Prague Sounds in 2022. The New York Times has called the festival 'one of Prague's most innovative musical undertakings.'

Over the course of its history, the festival has brought some of the most respected names in international music to Prague, presenting both iconic, established musicians and younger artists at the cutting edge of new music. The festival makes use of a range of venues across the city – from the Rudolfinum concert hall and Forum Karlin to club and alternative venues like Dox+, CAMP, and La Fabrika. It also puts on site-specific projects.

Artists to have appeared at Prague Sounds include Nils Frahm, De La Soul, Herbie Hancock, Yo-Yo Ma, Wayne Shorter, Kae Tempest, Lambchop, Ahmad Jamal, Barbara Hannigan, and Cassandra Wilson, as well as contemporary composers Steve Reich, Terry Riley, and Caroline Shaw, and Julia Wolfe, and artists from the contemporary hip-hop and electronic scenes such as Shabazz Palaces, Young Fathers, Nathan Fake, and Ghostpoet.

In 2020, in reaction to the global pandemic, the festival put on its first-ever open-air concert, a performance of Max Richter's Vivaldi Recomposed on a specially-constructed floating stage on the Vltava river in the heart of Prague. The following year, cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed on the floating stage, and in 2022 the festival used the stage for a special concert to celebrate the Czech Presidency of the EU, featuring the Czech Philharmonic.