From festival director to parliament: Roman Belor moves to a new seat

The directorship of the Prague Spring Festival was never a wholly apolitical post. As Roman Belor says, 'we boast that we have survived two coups d’état and one invasion by a foreign army'. He has been the festival's director throughout this century, which probably counts as the least problematic period in its 74-year history. Like Edinburgh (which started a year later), the Prague Spring was seen as a way to reaffirm normal life after the horrors of World War II and the festival’s first iteration in 1946 saw the European debut of Leonard Bernstein.

It was started by Raphael Kubelik, who had managed to stay in Prague for most of the Nazi occupation, though he refused to conduct Wagner's music during it. In 1946 it seemed there was a chance that Czechoslovakia would resume the full independence it had enjoyed after the break-up of the Hapsburg empire in 1919. Within two years, though, the Soviet-backed Communist Party seized power and Kubelik found himself in exile. His return to conduct the Czech Philharmonic’s 1990 festival performance of Smetana's Ma Vlast was one of the great events in Prague's musical life.

The second coup was the removal of first secretary and de facto leader, Alexander Dubcek, who was accused of being too liberal, ordered by Leonid Brezhnev in 1968, who sent in Russia's tanks, as had happened in Budapest 12 years earlier and as Russia has repeated, even more devastatingly, this year in Ukraine. Close adherence to Soviet cultural policy followed until the Velvet Revolution in late 1989 threw out the communists and installed the playwright Vaclav Havel as President. Despite the grim years behind the Iron Curtain, though, the Prague Spring Festival remained one of the few places where Eastern and Western bloc musicians could have some form of professional contact.

The 1990s were years of financial misery but gradually things improved. When Roman Belor (pictured below) became director in 2001 he was at last able to think of planning programmes that put the Prague Spring Festival back in the forefront of Europe's musical life. As to how it has developed, he says, 'the music itself has remained more or less the same. What has changed completely is the way we promote the music, the role of the internet and social media (and these things have to be respected). Some years ago, we found that chamber music is a bit neglected by our audience and so now we have a festival within the festival, a weekend where we have three or four concerts a day, often by artists who are not famous as soloists or part of our orchestras.

Roman Belor © Pražské jaro - Petra Hajská

'Also, we are now at the beginning of the third decade of this century, and we already have great compositions from these years, so we have to create space for new composers and musicians. This year we have initiated another "festival within the festival" which we are calling Prague Offspring, which is dedicated to new music without compromises; we are not doing sandwich programmes. It is important for the young composers, some still students, that they have a Prague Spring appearance as a reference in their CVs.' Along with the festival is the competition for young artists, also started by Kubelik in the second year. Belor cites Rostapovich as its most illustrious winner, 'but last year South Koreans swept the board and suddenly we find we have a lot of Korean friends. The format is like a millwheel turning round, so this year we are concentrating on clarinet and bassoon'.

And what does the future hold for this historic festival? 'This year will be my last because it is time to hand it on to someone else - but I have brought the move forward because last year I decided to speed up my political career and I have been elected as a member of parliament. It seems to me that to do both roles is complicated and that now it is better to back up the role of culture from the Parliament and to leave the executive position to younger colleagues.' There's a new government in the Czech Republic and Belor says, 'I am pleased that I have played a very small role in that change because many people have been frightened by the rise of populism, not just in Central Europe but generally, so I have joined a coalition that is absolutely non-populist. It is not a government of angels, but it is a normal pro-European, pro-Atlanticist government and I am very proud of it.'

'It's important that, along with the musical quality, we take care to look after the human message. Great artists have always played an important symbolic role in the character of nations and sometimes they have helped nations overcome their problems. We need artists who do not just play well but have a basic philosophy of humanity.'

This year's Prague Spring Festival runs until 3 June. You can find out more about the festival and tickets here.