The highest church award was delivered to philanthropist and cofounder of the festival Karel Komárek at a concert held on the St. Vitus Cathedral yesterday. "The medal has been awarded to extol festival's promotion of the good repute of Czech culture through the work of Antonín Dvořák, a genius music composer who sought inspiration in his deep faith in God," said Cardinal Duka.
An extraordinary sponsor of Czech culture, Komárek has supported the Dvořák Prague Festival since its very beginnings. His contribution has been lauded, among others, by the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts (KCICA), which awarded him a Gold Medal in 2003.
The Dvořák Prague Festival is a proud bearer of the name of one of the greatest composers in history – Antonín Dvořák. The event displays the entirety of the composer's legacy and showcases Dvořák's iconic works as well as lesser-known compositions. Performers include leading musicians from both the domestic and international scenes. The high point of this year's edition of Dvořák Prague will come on 23 September 2015 in a concert of Dvořák's most famous symphony, "From the New World", performed by the Czech Philharmonic under the direction of conductor Semyon Bychkov.