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The annual Dvořák Prague festival, dedicated to one of the country’s greatest composers of all time, gets underway at the Rudofinum concert hall on Sunday. The event will showcase renowned soloists, such as violinist Gil Shaham and pianist Ivo Pogorelich, and some of the world’ leading orchestras.

One of the world’s most acclaimed surrealist filmmakers Jan Švankmajer turned 85 on Wednesday. His signature surreal style, which relies on stop-motion animations and exaggerated sounds, has not only created many world renowned films in the genre, but also influenced other major artists such as Terry Gilliam and Jose Garcia Moreno.

A new exhibition dedicated to the late Czech president, playwright and dissident Václav Havel will open at the National Bohemian Hall in New York on Thursday, launching a series of events marking the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia.

A new exhibition, marking the start of the school year, got underway at the National Museum in Prague on Monday. It is dedicated to the 17th century Czech philosopher and thinker Jan Ámos Komenský or Comenius, known as ‘The Teacher of Nations’, and focuses on his most famous work for children, called Orbis Pictus.

Czechs are racing to file applications for building permits, with official figures showing that the number of applications in the first half of 2019 was the highest in 10 years. The main reason appears to be an EU directive that will make building more expensive from 2020, when stricter environmental rules come in. However, representatives of both business and government say that modern technologies will help save money in the long term.

Most children in the Czech Republic returned to school on Monday following the summer break. Compared to their peers worldwide, however, fewer look forward to being back in the classroom. This stems in part from a lack of positive feedback and individual attention from teachers, but also a lack of support from classmates, various studies show.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš can let out a sigh of relief, albeit a temporary one. On Monday morning, Deník N broke the story that the state attorney had halted the prosecution of Mr. Babiš for his alleged involvement in the so-called Stork’s Nest affair. However, the story is far from over as the decision is yet to be approved by the prosecutor’s superiors and other legal moves are possible.

The renowned Czech baritone Adam Plachetka launched his new CD on Wednesday. Called Winter Journey, the album contains his renditions of 24 poems set to music by Schubert. The opera singer also performed music from Don Giovanni to fully dressed people in bathtubs at the launch’s unusual venue – the rooftop of Prague’s Lucerna Palace. He explained all by phone.

After years of contentious debate, the government on Friday revealed plans to renovate the towering, exposed concrete Hotel Thermal, purpose-built in the 1970s to serve as the main venue of the famous Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Business and government representatives gathered near the western Bohemian town of Žatec on Wednesday to attend the official opening of a new Nexen Tire plant. The factory, which also features a research and development facility, is the third largest foreign investment project in the Czech Republic to be brokered by the country’s business development agency CzechInvest.