As a prelude to the fall performing arts season, it would be hard to top Young Prague. Every year the festival pulls together a budding group of classical all-stars from across the globe, and gives them a chance to jump-start their careers in front of Central European audiences. It's a great opportunity for both musicians and listeners, who get to hear the cream of the up-and-coming classical set.

"The basic purpose of the festival is to give promising young artists exposure," says Norbert Heller, a noted Czech pianist and one of the organizers of the festival. He and fellow musician/organizers Tomás Cistecky´ and Petr Hernych work their worldwide connections throughout the entire year, following up tips from colleagues, listening to demo tapes and discs and taking careful note of who's winning music competitions.

This year the talent pool is a bit smaller than usual — not for lack of talent, but because of the difficulty of finding funding. "It's expensive to fly people over from the United States," notes Heller. But a solid base of Japanese sponsors such as Panasonic and Toyota guarantees a strong contingent from that country every year. And visiting Europeans like the Corvinus Quartet, an all-female string group from Hungary, look equally promising this year.

As always, half the festival will play in venues out of town, in cities such as Srbská Kamenice, Frantiskovy Lázne and Teplice. Local audiences won't miss much, though, as most of the out-of-town performances will be repeated here. A total of six concerts are scheduled for Prague, at a classy mix of venues that includes Villa Bertramka, Wallenstein Palace and the Klementinum. Among the highlights:

The opening concert on Saturday, Aug. 20, is an outdoor event at Bertramka featuring the Young Prague Chamber Ensemble, an ongoing project of Hernych's. Members of the group are drawn from music schools in Prague, Pardubice and Ostrava. They'll be playing Mozart (obligatory for everyone who performs at Bertramka) and a tasty selection of 19th- and 20th-century French music. The same program will be repeated the following night at another outdoor venue, the Wallenstein Palace garden.

On Monday, August 22, young soloists from Japan, Finland and the Czech Republic join the Prague Symphony Orchestra's chamber music ensemble inside Wallenstein Palace for an evening of Haydn, Mozart and a premiere of sorts — a suite from Ibbur, or A Prague Mystery, a new ballet that opened at the National Theater this past season.

The following night, the Corvinus Quartet headlines a wide-ranging program of Czech, French and Japanese music at the Klementinum. They will be joined by organist Premysl Ksica and the Kunitachi College of Music Choir from Tokyo, a first-rate chorus led by the unforgettable professor Yoshifumi Nakajima.

The closing night at the Czech National Bank hall on Tuesday, Aug. 30, brings together an impressive cast: German violinist Martina Kössl, Czech bassoon player Václav Vonásek, Japanese conductor Takeschi Moriuchi and the Prague Symphony Orchestra chamber ensemble. They will be performing an equally variegated program, ranging from a Mozart concerto to Balding Patterns, a piece by contemporary Czech composer Michal Nejtek.

"We're not trying to make stars, just help people start their careers," says Cistecky´. "This is a great experience for them," adds Heller. "Plus, it's an opportunity to make friends."