Arts | All stories

The first reunion of the classic lineup of The Velvet Underground took place in Paris in 1990, at a show also featuring the Czech band Půlnoc. Believe it or not, the VU performed for the first time in 22 years in large part due to a Prague rumour linked to Půlnoc that took on a life of its own. A recording of that concert – which took place 28 years ago this week – has now been printed up on vinyl by Ivo Pospíšil, who was closely involved in the events in question.

For the third year now, the Moravian capital Brno is hosting an international event that brings together representatives of various nationalities, cultures and faiths. The festival titled Meeting Brno features discussions, exhibitions, concerts, walks, screenings and much more, in an effort to prove that the city whose multicultural history was severed by the horrors and aftermaths of WWII is embracing its past and looking forward into the future.

The Czech contribution to the Venice Architecture Biennale, which kicks off next weekend, is an offbeat social experiment from the leading Czech conceptual artist Kateřina Šedá. She is attempting to reintroduce normal life to popular destination Český Krumlov so as to generate debate on a major issue in today’s Europe: overtourism.

Television professionals from across Europe as well as TV show enthusiasts and binge watchers from this country converged on the city of Brno last week for the first year of a new Central and Eastern Europe TV and online series festival titled Serial Killer.

Iva Bittová is a phenomenal Czech avant-garde violinist, singer and composer who has developed a music style of her own. She moved to upstate New York over ten years ago where she continues performing and teaching both children and adults. We talked after one of her workshops in Prague about her career, her future projects and her passion for helping underprivileged youth to realize their full musical potential.

Many musical projects have noteworthy origin stories. But Dálava’s is truly one of a kind. Julia Úlehla and her musical and life partner Aram Bajakian began performing ancient Moravian folk songs – which they hadn’t heard – after happening upon them in a book named Živá píseň (Living Song). It had been compiled in the early 20th century by the former’s great-grandfather Vladimír Úlehla, a remarkable polymath.

Blues singer and teacher Juwana Jenkins has been living in Prague since the late 1990s. In this special video interview, the American vocalist discusses her relationship to the city, adjusting to Czech culture – and much more.

Art lovers in Prague can now appreciate non-conformity in a remarkable exhibition featuring contemporary avant-garde British artists at the Černá Labuť Art Gallery. The eleven featured artists fall outside of mainstream and ‘favored’ art movements in the United Kingdom. Among them are Charles Thomson, Anna Keen, Joe Machine and Ella Guru.

As the year draws to a close all of us here at the English department of Radio Prague would like to thank our devoted listeners the world over for their dedication to the station, for being with us and taking the time to drop us a line or write an email to share your views about what you found particularly interesting and what you’d like to hear more of on Radio Prague. In this special edition of Mailbox I’d like to quote from a few of your letters and emails and reveal a little of what’s in the pipeline for 2018.

The renowned British violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen is set to make her debut with the Czech Philharmonic in Prague’s Rudolfinum on Saturday. The graduate of the Royal College of Art and this year’s recipient of the ECHO Rising Star Awards will be performing a world premiere of a piece by the award-winning British composer Richard Blackford.