The Ceská filharmonie (Czech Philharmonic) is a symphony orchestra based in Prague and is perhaps the most well known and respected orchestra in the Czech Republic. It was voted one of the top 10 best orchestras in Europe in a 2006 survey organized by the French magazine Le Monde de la Musique. The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra was formerly the orchestra of the Prague National Opera. It played its first concert under its current name on January 4, 1896 when Antonín Dvorák conducted his own compositions, but it did not become fully independent from the opera until 1901. In 1908, Gustav Mahler led the orchestra in the world premiere of his Symphony No. 7. The orchestra first became internationally known under the baton of Václav Talich, who was principal conductor from 1919 to 1931, and again from 1933 to 1941.

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