More than 200 Czech artists will be presented at the Czech National Pavilion at EXPO 2025: The National Day will be held on July 24, 2025
Czech organisers are finalising the cultural program for Czech participation at EXPO 2025. Over the course of the 26-week world exhibition, more than 200 artists will perform in over 30 music, stage, and cross-genre projects. Among the successful projects featured at the world exhibition will be established names from the Czech music scene, which essentially serve as synonyms for Czechia to Japanese audiences. These will mainly include projects from the classical music sector, such as the Czech Philharmonic, the Czech Radio Chamber Soloists, and the Chamber Orchestra of the Pilsen Philharmonic. However, these will be presented in a contemporary light, enhanced by innovative and cross-genre collaborations with other artistic ensembles. The highlight of the Czech cultural program will be the National Day on July 24, 2025, featuring a joint performance by Cirk La Putyka and the Czech Philharmonic, the Czech Radio Children’s Choir, and musician Aiko.
The program will also feature representatives of progressive personalities and groups, such as contemporary Czech music scene artist Bára Zmeková, accompanied by the Japanese duo Mika Mangetsu, singer-songwriter Anna Blomqvist Vaverková, organist and composer Katta Vox, and the group Lunchmeat, which merges electronic music with digital art. On April 13, 2025, during the opening and the early days of the World Expo, pianist Ivo Kahánek will perform, followed by Duo Jamník and others. The cultural program also thinks about the youngest visitors of EXPO, with puppet shows and children's music performances planned.
The cultural program will also include a joint theater performance by the Alfa Theater from Pilsen and the Tokyo-based PUK Theater, a weekend showcase of Czech puppetry, a music and ballet performance by the National Theatre Brno with the Brno Philharmonic, as well as contemporary stage performances by dancers from 420People and a performance by the group Vektroskop.
"Over the course of the 26-week World Expo, more than 200 artists will perform in over 30 musical, theatrical, and cross-genre projects. I am very pleased that thanks to the support of our partners and the tremendous interest from artists, this representative cultural showcase in Osaka will be one of the most significant presentations of Czech culture abroad this year and will undoubtedly contribute to the successful representation of Czechia at this global exhibition forum," says Přemysl Pela, the Program Director of Czech participation at EXPO 2025.
"It is a great honuor for me that, in collaboration with the expert committee, we have managed to curate a representative selection of top Czech artists who will present the best of both traditional and contemporary works at EXPO 2025. Our diverse program will showcase the richness of our cultural scene while highlighting the significant role Czechia plays in the field of modern art. I believe that this comprehensive presentation of Czech culture will strengthen our international reputation and encourage the younger generation of creators to further develop their talent and creativity," says Ondřej Soška, Czech Commissioner General.
The Czech National Day will take place on July 24, 2025, marking the 165th anniversary of Alphonse Mucha's birth. His work enjoys significant popularity in Japan and is even admired by the Imperial Family, who remain friends with the Mucha family to this day. This is why Mucha plays such an important role in the presentation of Czechia. On Czech National Day, the Czech Philharmonic will perform alongside Cirk La Putyka, the Czech Radio Children’s Choir, and singer Aiko, who represented Czechia at the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest and recently received a nomination for the Anděl Music Awards.
The Czech Philharmonic is preparing a chamber music program for EXPO 2025 in collaboration with Cirk La Putyka. The choreography will be created by Rosťa Novák, and the arrangements of famous Czech music history pieces will be by composer and conductor Jan Kučera. The Philharmonic will send eleven musicians to Japan, who, along with Jan Kučera and artists from La Putyka, will rehearse a performance for Czech National Day. The Czech Philharmonic previously tested this collaboration with Cirk La Putyka during the opening evening of the Smetanova Litomyšl festival.
"Based on this successful project, which entertained both musicians and the audience, we offered it to the organizers of EXPO 2025 through an open cultural call, and they subsequently selected it. The Czech Philharmonic has regularly toured Japan throughout its history, and the local audience is one of the most important foreign communities that supports the first Czech orchestra. The chamber performance at EXPO 2025 will be our way of thanking the Japanese listeners for their long-standing support, as well as an invitation to our autumn tour with the entire orchestra and Chief Conductor Semjon Bychkov," says David Mareček, General Director of the Czech Philharmonic.
"It is a great honour for me to represent the current Czech cultural scene, especially when I have the opportunity to perform alongside Cirk La Putyka and the Czech Philharmonic. Playing in Japan and at EXPO 2025 is a fantastic opportunity and another beautiful milestone in my career, and of course, we will prepare the best performance possible. I visited Japan when I was 18, and I fell in love with it; it partly inspired my artistic name, so I am really looking forward to returning," says singer Alena Shirmanova-Kostebelova, performing under the pseudonym Aiko.
The Office of the Czech Commissioner General, in cooperation with the cultural institute Czech Centres, were the very first to announce an open call for the selection of the cultural program for the World Expo. The aim was to choose the best of what the Czech cultural scene has to offer. Until recently, the Czech Commissioners General have been assigning the artists directly. The cultural open call was launched in July 2024 and ran for about two months. An expert jury then selected finalists in the fall from a record-breaking 186 applications, with whom negotiations were conducted. In addition to the project's programmatic quality, the jury particularly considered the Czech-Japanese cultural and artistic connection. For Czech artists, this is an extraordinary opportunity to present themselves on the global stage. The cultural program will also complement the business aspect of the Czech participation at EXPO 2025 in Osaka. Given the architecture of the Czech National Pavilion, which includes a multifunctional auditorium, and its attractive and accessible location, projects intended primarily for internal presentations were sought. The theme of the Czech participation is Talent and Creativity for Life.
About the Czech Pavilion at EXPO 2025
In December 2022, after more than twenty years, the Office of the Commissioner General announced an open, anonymous architectural competition to design the National Pavilion for EXPO 2025. Thirty-eight studios have participated, and in March 2023 a jury of experts led by the world-renowned architect Eva Jiřičná selected the winning design: a glass spiral by Apropos Architects. The main structure of the building will be made of modern wood panels, while the façade will feature art glass, which has a centuries-old tradition in Czechia. The National Pavilion, which will be located on the artificial island of Yumeshima in Osaka Bay from April to October 2025, will provide a prestigious setting for Czech participation at EXPO 2025. The pavilion will house a permanent exhibition, a multifunctional auditorium, facilities for business meetings, restaurants, a CTP lounge, and a relaxation area overlooking the sea.
About the Czech participation at EXPO 2025
This will be the sixth time that Czechia has taken part in a world exhibition as an independent state. Ondřej Soška, who won the Ministry of Foreign Affairs selection process with his concept and theme "Talent and Creativity for Life", has been serving as Commissioner General since September 2022. Czechia aims to showcase not only what the Japanese already know and admire, such as Czech glass and classical music, but above all Czech innovations, nanotechnologies, promising start-ups and talent from the regions.