The laureates of the Antonín Dvořák Award 2025 for outstanding contributions to Czech classical music are Magdalena and Sir Simon Rattle. This Sunday evening, The Award will be presented at a Prague Gala concert where their family and friends honour them in performance.
Veronika Eberle on violin, Brett Dean on viola, Clemens Hagen on cello, Sacha Rattle on clarinet, Marco Postinghel on bassoon, Carsten Carey Duffin on French horn and Adam Honzírek on double bass - all are renowned virtuosos on their instruments and, as a special project septet, they will perform Dvořák's charming Bagatelles and Beethoven's famous Septet in E-flat major for Magdalena and Simon. You can find more information about the program and ticket sales here.
The Antonín Dvořák Award is a prestigious prize in the field of classical music. It is intended to highlight people, artistic collectives or institutions for exceptional artistic achievements or significant merit in promoting and popularising Czech classical music in the Czech Republic and abroad. The award has been presented by the Academy of Classical Music since 2009. The first laureate was the great-grandson of Antonín Dvořák: the violinist, violist and conductor Josef Suk. He was followed by figures such as the pianist Ivan Moravec, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the world-famous choreographer and dancer Jiří Kylián. Recent laureates include Jakub Hrůša, currently the most successful Czech conductor, and the Prague Philharmonic Choir.
In the past, the award ceremony has been held on special occasions and at notable venues, underscoring the prize’s significance. Soprano Ludmila Dvořáková received the Antonín Dvořák Award in the Spanish Hall of Prague Castle during a recital by pianist Lang Lang, conductor Jiří Bělohlávek was given the award in 2014 at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Czech Philharmonic received it at its concert celebrating 100 years of Czech statehood at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and Sir András Schiff accepted the award at the Dvořák Prague International Music Festival in the Rudolfinum’s Dvořák Hall.
Laureates of the Antonín Dvořák Award receive a glass sculpture of a cello designed by architect Jiří Pelcl and produced by Moser, the famous Czech glassworks, whose beautiful products of unique quality have been recognized and loved throughout the world since 1857.
