For authentic performances of Czech music, look no further! The superb musicians of the Prague Symphony Orchestra are steeped in the music of Smetana and Dvořák which they are touring with Petr Altrichter, the orchestra’s Chief Conductor since 1991. They’re joined by the dazzling Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero, a soloist who’s always warmly welcomed at Symphony Hall. Prokofiev’s most popular Piano Concerto demands just the kind of virtuosic capabilities and sensitive lyrical playing that Montero has in spades.

Smetana’s mercurial overture to The Bartered Bride is a high speed showstopper with its skittering pianissimo strings punctuated with rhythmic outbursts. Playing in the viola section at the opera’s premiere was a young Antonín Dvořák. He shared Smetana’s passion for Czech music and culture, enriching his own music with its folk dance and melodies. Internationally renowned and riding the crest of a wave when he wrote his Seventh Symphony, this is music that’s moody and dramatic, with a more carefree slow movement and dance-like scherzo. Dvořák’s ambition that it “must be capable of stirring the world” was certainly realised, and for many people this is undoubtedly his greatest symphony.