Our program called Prague is definitely a treat for music connoisseurs. Despite the expected pearls of orchestral music such as works by Dvořák and Smetana, the concert evening is entirely reserved for the monumental Symphony No. 7 by Gustav Mahler, lasting almost 80 minutes. The work was created at a time when the composer had already achieved great international success as a conductor but had just begun to gain a significant reputation as a composer. However, the period between the creation and the premiere of the Seventh Symphony brought dramatic changes in Mahler’s life and career. He left the position of conductor at the Vienna State Opera when the Viennese public turned against him; later his daughter died of scarlet fever. Problems in Vienna led him to decide for the premiere of Symphony No. 7 in Prague in 1908, performed by the Czech Philharmonic at the festival marking the Diamond Jubilee of Emperor Franz Joseph.