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Mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená, or Lady Rattle if you are so inclined, became a popular and critically celebrated figure in Europe before the age of 30. She was touted as the chief competitor to Cecilia Bartoli (although there is no evidence of a personal rivalry between the two). Her area of primary expertise is 18th century music, particularly Bach, but she has also had success in more Romantic opera and song repertory. Kožená's voice has been variously described as "sweet" and "fiery and melting," depending on her repertory; more constant attributes include her vocal agility and sense of drama, which are both highly regarded.

Kožená was born on May 26, 1973, in Brno, in the Czech Republic (formerly Czechoslovakia). She initially studied at the Brno Conservatory, then with Eva Blahová at the College of Performing Arts in Bratislava. Even before her graduation in 1995, she was winning major prizes in the Czech Republic and internationally, the most significant being top honors at the sixth International Mozart Competition in Salzburg in 1995. She spent the 1996-1997 season as a member of the Vienna Volksoper. In 1997, Kožená made her recording debut with an album of Bach Arias on the Archiv Produktion label. In 1998, she made her debut at the Drottningholm Festival as Paride in Gluck's Paride ed Elena. Her Bach recording caught the attention of the Deutsche Grammophon label, which signed her to an exclusive recording contract in 1999 that resulted in annual releases. In 2000, she debuted at the Châtelet in Paris as Gluck's Orpheus and at the Vienna Festival as Nero in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea. She appeared as Cherubino in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2001. During this time, Kožená was also an active recitalist throughout Europe but was less known in the U.S., despite performances in San Francisco and at Carnegie Hall. Participation in Metropolitan Opera productions of Mozart and Janácek operas boosted her American reputation.

Kožená has been featured mainly in Baroque and Classical music, although she has also ventured into the Romantic era and 20th century Czech songs. As a recitalist, she has performed and recorded Britten, which has endeared her to the nationalistic British press. An even greater honor came to Kožená in 2003 with the success of her recording of Romantic French opera arias, not to mention her presence in the 2002 centenary production of Pelléas et Mélisande at the Opéra Comique: she was awarded the title of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. In 2004, she was named the Gramophone Awards "Artist of the Year." Kožená married conductor Sir Simon Rattle in 2008, and they have three children together. Since her marriage, she has also been known as Lady Rattle. In 2009, Kožená's recording of Julietta fragments by Martinu won a Gramophone Award. The following season, she toured with the ensemble Private Musicke in a program based on her album Lettere Amorose. Kožená began a fruitful relationship with the PentaTone Classics label in 2017, which quickly resulted in several albums, including Il Giardino dei sospiri and Soirée: Magdalena Kožená & Friends in 2019. Her 2023-2024 season included recitals, concerts, and operatic appearances in countries around the world, and saw her release the album Folk Songs (with Rattle conducting the Czech Philharmonic) in 2023, followed by a recording of Handel's Alcina (with Marc Minkowski leading Les Musiciens du Louvre) in 2024. ~ James Reel & Keith Finke

The Czech Philharmonic is the leading symphonic ensemble in the musically rich Czech Republic, with a long history of definitive performances and recordings of Czech repertory. The orchestra has sometimes found itself a topic of political contention as the waves of European history have swept across its homeland.

Like many other Central European orchestras, the Czech Philharmonic (the Czech name since 2015 is Česká filharmonie, and the word "orchestra" is no longer part of its name) began as a theater orchestra: a group of orchestral musicians at the Prague National Theatre named themselves the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in 1894, and in two years, the wisdom of the move became apparent when Dvořák conducted the group in a concert of his own works. By 1901, the Philharmonic was a fully independent entity, and it quickly gained renown beyond Czech borders; Mahler conducted the orchestra in the world premiere of his Symphony No. 7 in 1908. The most important among the orchestra's early conductors was Vaclav Talich, who held the post of principal conductor for most of the period between 1919 and 1941.

The orchestra's conductors since then have all been internationally renowned figures. Rafael Kubelik assumed the baton under German occupation in 1942, remaining until 1948 but fleeing at that point as Czechoslovakia came under Communist rule. His successors have included Karel Ancerl (who fled to Canada during the Soviet crackdown after the so-called Prague Spring of 1968), Václav Neumann, and Jiří Bělohlávek, all of whom were distinguished interpreters of Czech music, Mahler, and often French and 20th century music as well. Their recordings gained critical acclaim in the West despite Czechoslovakia's partial isolation during the Cold War. In the late '80s, the orchestra participated in Czech protests against Soviet domination. A performance of Smetana's Má vlast in 1990 marked Kubelik's return to his homeland for the first time in 42 years. Bělohlávek served from 1990 to 1992, stepping down as the orchestra appointed Gerd Albrecht to be its first non-Czech conductor. This move generated controversy, and Albrecht also resigned in 1996. He was succeeded by Vladimir Ashkenazy (1996-2003), who led the orchestra on major international tours. He was followed by Zdeněk Mácal and the Eliahu Inbal. Bělohlávek returned in 2012 and was essentially given a contract for life, making critically acclaimed recordings before his death in 2017. Since 2018, the orchestra's conductor has been Semyon Bychkov.

The Czech Philharmonic has recorded prolifically during the digital era, at first mostly for the Czech national label Supraphon. In the late 2010s, the group has also recorded for the Decca label, which has continued to issue Bělohlávek recordings in its vaults. In 2019, his reading of Josef Suk's Asrael Symphony appeared on that label. The Bychkov era began on Decca with The Tchaikovsky Project (2019), a complete cycle of the composer's symphonies, concertos, and other orchestral works. In 2022, Bychkov and the Philharmonic issued a pair of Mahler symphony releases on the PentaTone Classics label. By that time, the group's recording catalog comprised some 140 digital albums, plus many LPs issued when the Philharmonic was the national orchestra of Czechoslovakia. ~ James Manheim