Welcome to Smetana's Litomysl Opera Festival

Established in 1949, the Smetana's Litomysl International Opera Festival is the second oldest music festival in the Czech Republic, right after the famous "Prague Spring" classical music festival. Smetana's Litomysl Opera Festival is the largest open-air classical music festival in the Czech Republic.

The Smetana's Litomysl Opera Festival takes place annually during two consecutive long weekends at the end of June and beginning of July.

The center of the Smetana's Litomysl Opera Festival activities is the Litomysl Castle, a national cultural landmark that was registered on UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999. It was in the brewery adjoining the Litomysl castle where the founder of Czech national music, Bedrich Smetana, was born in 1824. In his honour the Opera Festival carries Bedrich Smetana name.

While the main program of the Smetana's Litomysl Opera Festival features music composed by Smetana and other Czech composers, there is a room for good music of all kinds, no matter of its origin or genre. As a rule, the only emphasis is placed on works in which the vocal part dominates such as opera, oratorios, cantatas, vocal recitals and choral concerts, though not forgetting orchestral or chamber music as well.

The most renowned Czech opera companies, orchestras and soloists regularly take part in the Smetana's Litomysl Opera Festival. Also prominent foreign performers have been appearing here more and more often. Some 14,000 visitors attend this unique open-air musical celebration every year, and its venues are filled to an average 95% of their capacity.