Prague Sounds 2025 brings together an eclectic mix of international and domestic artists across jazz, electronica, contemporary classical, and hybrid genres. Running from Nov. 1–19, the festival highlights adventurous performances with a special focus on women artists. From legendary vocalists to cutting-edge electronic duos, the programme promises bold, genre-defying music throughout the city.
Prague Sounds is the most prestigious music festival in Prague for first-rate adventurous artists in jazz, electronica, contemporary classical, plus hybrids (non-classifiable), i.e., genre-busters. The festival’s focus this year is on women artists, so it opens with the soulful Mexican folk singer and musician (cuatro player) Silvana Estrada in the Rudolfinum, Nov. 1 (on the Mexican Day of the Dead).
The grande dame of this year’s festival is the modern jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant. She was awarded the MacArthur Genius Grant in 2020, at the age of 31, and since then bold departures from standard jazz have been the norm. Her new album Oh Snap, released in September 2025, was recorded alone using only AutoTune and GarageBand, proving that jazz can be refreshed into the 21st century.
Meanwhile, McLorin Salvant’s previous album, Melusine (2023), should not be categorized as jazz at all; it is mostly chanson, primarily sung in French, as she is French-American (born in Florida to a Haitian father and a French mother). In this way, she seems closest at heart to American jazz vocalists who became exiles in France, such as Nina Simone or Dee Dee Bridgewater, but McLorin’s music incorporates vaudeville, baroque, the blues, and Broadway theatre. McLorin Salvant will perform with her jazz quartet, which includes her long-time musical collaborator and husband, Sullivan Fortner.
Lambchop (Kurt Wagner of Nashville) plays music seeped in nostalgia, initially as alt-country, later incorporating electronica, jazz, and soul. He is a guitarist with a vocal style between Johnny Cash and Stuart Staples (Tindersticks). Meanwhile, his album The Bible (2022), sung with a vocoder, recalls Leonard Cohen. He will have an intimate performance with Andrew Broder (pianist on that album).
Oneohtrix Point Never (OPN) is a Brooklyn-based American (composer, producer, singer, songwriter), in short, a sound wizard who creates a dense and intense kaleidoscopic universe of genres weaving aural memories and incorporating the history of Western music, it seems, like chop suey, mixed with TV/film/video/tech memorabilia resurfacing as an extravagance in electronica. His 2023 recording Again includes guitarist Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, and on this one, OPN creates dreamy futuristic soundscapes with a fondness for rock, from progressive and alternative to post-rock.
Equally noteworthy, the artistic duo in electronica, Alva Noto & Christian Fennesz (Germany/Austria), will perform Continuum as a tribute to Ryuichi Sakamoto (Yellow Magic Orchestra), as both artists had recorded separate ambient projects with the recently deceased Japanese composer, maestro Sakamoto.
Other women artists, as standouts of the festival, include Caroline Shaw & So Percussion, and Arooj Aftab. Caroline Shaw is an American vocal artist and violinist performing with a Grammy-winning New York City-based percussion ensemble and female back-up vocalists creating a soothing and spiritual tidal wave of sound. Aftab is a Pakistani-American vocalist based in Brooklyn with an ensemble of contemporary classical players guided by Pakistani traditional folk and jazz.
More jazz and hip-hop is on the program with American drummer Nate Smith (in a quartet with the bassist of Snarky Puppy, Michael League); and younger voices with Berwyn + Moses Yoofee Trio, a Trinidadian-born, London street-based R&B/rapper, and hip-hop/new jazz from Berlin, respectively.
Young Czech artists also have their own night, called Idea’s Choice; Idea is a local rapper and for this evening, he has chosen Champion Sound and the duo Laokoon. Champion Sound is a hip-hop group and back-up for many local MCs; Laokoon is a Brno duo of a rapper and a poet in electronica.
Finally, there is a special off-program for free on November 17—a Soundtrack of Prague Freedom. It is an audio-visual essay (projection on a 2×4 meter screen) reflecting the events of the Velvet Revolution (marking the 35th anniversary of Nov. 17, 1989). It combines film archives, photos, maps, and a contemporary visual and musical composition, projected throughout the day in the main hall of CAMP (Center for Architecture and Metropolitan Planning). An outdoor program will accompany this event.
Concert venues for the festival range from Rudolfinum, Lucerna’s Grand Ballroom or Music Bar, to a new rotunda, Nová Spirála (at Výstaviště), La Fabrika, ARCHA+, and the grungy underground space Divadlo X10. For details (dates and venues), see the festival’s website: Prague Sounds. The Festival.
Prague Sounds 2025
01 to 19 November 2025
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