FAQ 3. I'll be in Prague for a conference. What's the nightlife like?

Evenings in Prague

Listings of Events

• The Prague Information Service (PIS).is the most comprehensive listing of nearly all the cultural events in the city. Their website is available in English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish as well as Czech.
  Czech language operas are often supertitled in English. The National Theatre has bilingual supertitles that will always include English as one of the languages when the opera itself is not in English, and the State Opera is experimenting with the same.

• Note that unless it is specifically indicated that plays are in English, you can expect Czech. An exception is Švandovo Divadlo which offers English supertitles on some of its productions, such as Vaclav Havel's The Beggar's Opera, a provocative production. They also feature avant garde theatre in their "studio" venue. The restored and re-opened theater is located at the tram stop of the same name on the Mala Strana side of the river.

• The Czech Philharmonic has an excellent website with a complete listing of all their concerts and a fabulous interactive seating map giving exact location, prices, and view of the stage all in one sweep of your mouse. Of course, the orchestra is top notch, too!

• Narodni Divadlo or the National Theatre has its own website and ticket sales for its 4 venues, The National Theatre building itself, the Estates Theatre, the Kolowrat Theatre and the New Stage. An extensive repertoire of opera, ballet, and drama is scheduled from September through early July.

• The Prague State Opera, a separate enterprise, has its own website. It performs most of the classic repertoire of opera and ballet. Occasionally, a visiting troupe or a ballet gala with world-renown stars livens up the scene.

• The National Gallery is a more unusual nightime activity, but this can be a great time to catch a good exhibit. There are 4 separate locations housing parts of the collection.

• The National Museum, another institution with many sites all over Prague, also hosts a variety of concerts, particularly at the Museum of Music (Českém muzeu hudby). Unfortunately, their English language pages are presently not keeping current with their Czech pages. If you are self-confident, you may be able to decipher enough of the Czech announcements on this page (date, time, group, composers, prices) to land a ticket or even free entry to a delightful concert. Or, ask for help at your hotel on arrival.

• Buy or look online at The Prague Post, the weekly English newspaper, for a partial listing of what's on, including some reviews. Be aware that the Post has many failings as a source of good tips for residents or visitors. Not only does it have minimal interest in reviewing classical music, opera, or ballet, but the number of art reviews has also fallen. More space is devoted to films and bands. Often, the most interesting event highlighted is already sold out or occurred only on the day the paper came out.

• Prague-in-Your Pocket, also available in some bookstores and at news stands, covers 2 months of activities and highlights special events and exhibits. However, this publication is a franchise which now appears to be raking in the ad money while making only a show of providing good tips. Their write-ups sometimes favor an edgy tone over accuracy. Online, their idea of nightlife is completely different from ours, favoring the underside of the hard-drinking, "partying" tourist trade. In the paper edition, their selection of sleazy entertainment guaranteed to empty your wallet quickly in risky venues is extensive.

Tickets

Ticketstream also has a wide selection of events listed. Bohemia Ticket is another vendor.

Hedgie Recommends

• Dvorak's The Devil and Kate - a marvelous comic opera made even more enjoyable by sets and costumes designed by the well-loved Czech artist and caricaturist, Adolf Born.

• Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen - This moving comic opera is a total change from his grim works, "Jenufa" and "Katya Kabanova."

• John Cranko's The Taming of the Shrew - A comic modern ballet. Very funny without being overdone, and extremely well danced. Premiered with Stuttgart in 1969, this ballet was one of Cranko's triumphs. Watch for it to return in the repertoire.

• If you have not yet seen Smetana's The Bartered Bride or Dvorak's Rusalka, these oft-repeated classics are also worth seeing.

• Mozart's Don Giovanni, running in repertory at the Theatre of the Estates where it premiered under Mozart himself, has gotten mixed reviews but may warrant a try for historical and sentimental reasons.

Other Bits and Pieces

• Be aware that for modern dance events at the more experimental Ponec Theater, you will be sitting on bleachers, and that even finding the theater itself, near the main bus station, can be an adventure.

• Jazz: Jazz of all kinds is a year-round Prague treat. Many clubs host well-known groups on tour. Check the listings.
  Special events and venues:
  1. The annual fall jazz festival has artists from around the world.
  2. The annual Prague Spring festival also includes jazz concerts.
  3. The Lucerna Music Bar, while old and funky, is an intimate, exciting venue.
  4. The Forman brothers' boat is has very loud but good music. Their almost non-verbal theatre productions are also worth a try.
  5. Jazz Meets the World does not have English language pages as such, but you can see the names of groups you might like to see, and the dates and locations for their concerts, in the list on the right-hand column of the page. Hedgie sometimes highlights selected jazz concerts in our Events section.

• English-subtitled films are often featured at Svetozor just off Wenceslas Square or at the multiplex in Slovansky Dum on Na Prikope, the pedestrian shopping street.

• A walk along the Vltava River, especially from the National Theater to and across the Charles Bridge, is glorious at sunset, twilight, or late evening. If a tower is open, climb up.

• A night cruise on the river is soothing and romantic, especially on a warm summer evening. Take one without the second-rate buffet and without a loud audio tour broadcast over poor speakers. The selections of tours and companies is constantly changing.

• Hedgie recommends choosing a concert in one of the dozens of small venues or at the Rudolfinum, the home of the Czech Philharmonic. The Spanish Hall at the Castle is an especially elegant venue.

• CAUTION: We do not recommend the heavily-promoted concerts staged strictly for tourists. The same Mozart, Hayden, Vivaldi, and Handel selections have been played to death by the exhausted moonlighting musicians trying to keep up with inflation in the new capitalist economy.

Important Notes on Local Customs:

• Czechs dress elegantly for the opera, symphony, and for concerts. Even the children are beautifully attired. At many jazz concerts, some avant garde plays, and modern dance performances, dress is a more casual but still stylish.

  

  Foreigners who arrive at an elegant venue wearing athletic shoes and carrying knapsacks or bags they refuse to check are regarded as ignorant, arrogant, and very vulgar, though Czechs and other Europeans may not tell them this. Of course, every expat from that national group is also deeply embarrassed.

• At the National Theatre, the cloakroom ("šatna") is included in the price of your opera or ballet ticket and no tips are expected. The attendants pride themselves on their service and are completely honest. You will be expected to check coats, backpacks, umbrellas, etc.
  If you do check something, you can also rent old-fashioned well-worn opera glasses for a small fee. If you have nothing to check, you need to put down a 500 Czk deposit on the glasses.
  In other venues, look for signs about a small fee and watch what the locals do.

• Multilingual programs for the opera, ballet, or concerts are usually available from your usher. Have coins or small bills ready, not a 1000 Czk note.

• At some opera, ballet, and some musical concerts, it is considered acceptable to move into an unoccupied seat as the house lights go down, if you do it extremely quietly. Subscribers can not change their tickets or even donate them back to the theater, so sometimes their seats are unused. Ask the usher beforehand, however.

Final Tips

Depending on your taste, you could also take in a soccer game, ice hockey, a marionette show, or black light theater. You could hang out in a posh rooftop bar or one at the edge of the river, drink great beer with locals in a noisy pub, or go on a night walking tour of the city. If you're still up at sunrise, go to the Charles Bridge. It'll be almost empty, and you can watch the sun guild the Castle and the facades of Mala Strana.