A Tribute to the Songs of Antonín Dvořák

Kateřina Kněžíková is one of the most promising sopranos of her generation. In addition to her opera career, she increasingly focuses on concert repertoire, achieving success both in her native Czech Republic and abroad. Her core repertoire includes works by Antonín Dvořák, Bohuslav Martinů, Leoš Janáček, as well as the art song genre. She is the recipient of the Classic Prague Awards 2018 for Best Chamber Performance and the Thalia Award 2019 for her outstanding stage portrayal in Julietta or The Key to Dreams (B. Martinů) at the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre.

A graduate of the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Kněžíková has been a permanent member of the National Theatre Opera since 2006. Her current roles there include appearances in Rusalka, Così fan tutte, Carmen, Jenůfa, The Bartered Bride, and The Cunning Little Vixen.

She has performed at numerous festivals, including the Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Prague Spring International Music Festival, Dvořák Prague International Music Festival, and Smetana’s Litomyšl. Her collaborations with leading orchestras include the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony, Camerata Salzburg, Czech Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, among others.

She has worked under the baton of many distinguished conductors, including Jiří Bělohlávek, Semyon Bychkov, Serge Baudo, Plácido Domingo, Asher Fisch, Manfred Honeck, Domingo Hindoyan, Jakub Hrůša, Oksana Lyniv, Tomáš Netopil, John Nelson, Petr Popelka, and Robin Ticciati.

In 2021, Kněžíková released her debut solo album “Phidylé” with Supraphon, which was named Editor’s Choice and listed among Gramophone's Best Classical Albums of 2021, also winning the BBC Music Magazine Award in the Vocal category. Her discography with Radioservis includes the albums “Fantasie” and “K2”. In September 2024, she released “Tag und Nacht” with Jakub Hrůša and the Bamberg Symphony under the Supraphon label.

In December 2024, she made a highly successful debut with the Czech Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall, conducted by Semyon Bychkov.

source: Camerata s.r.o.

photo © Petr Weigl

Robert Jindra graduated from the Prague Conservatory, where he studied classical singing and conducting.

Since 2001, he has been affiliated with the National Theatre in Prague, where he has prepared productions such as Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Smetana’s The Two Widows, and several operas by Leoš Janáček (The Cunning Little Vixen, From the House of the Dead), as well as a wide range of Czech and international repertoire, including Smetana’s The Secret and Libuše, Dvořák’s Rusalka, Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová and Jenůfa, Mozart’s Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro, Bizet’s Carmen, Verdi’s Falstaff, and Wagner’s Lohengrin. He also led special concerts, including Mozart’s Birthday and the Czech Opera Gala.

During the 2013/2014 season, he served as Music Director of the National Theatre Opera in Prague. From February 2010 to November 2014, he was the Music Director of the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre Opera in Ostrava, where he conducted numerous opera premieres, including Smetana’s The Devil’s Wall, Dvořák’s Armida, Janáček’s Jenůfa, The Makropulos Affair, Káťa Kabanová, and The Excursions of Mr. Brouček, Wagner’s Lohengrin, Verdi’s Falstaff and La traviata, Massenet’s Werther, Catalani’s La Wally, Puccini’s La Bohème, and Hindemith’s Cardillac. He also led gala concerts dedicated to Verdi, Czech opera, and Puccini.

Internationally, he has collaborated with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, conducted at the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo (Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos), and at the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava (Halévy’s La Juive, Smetana’s The Bartered Bride). He has performed at prominent festivals such as the Prague Spring (Adam Plachetka Recital), Smetana’s Litomyšl, Viva Musica! Festival (concerts with Pavol Breslik and Adriana Kučerová, West Side Story/Candide), Janáček May (Adam Plachetka Gala Concert), Leoš Janáček Festival in Ostrava, and Košická hudobná jar.

Jindra has worked with numerous orchestras, including the Prague Chamber Philharmonic, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Pilsen Philharmonic, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Zlín, Slovak Philharmonic, State Philharmonic Košice, Essen Philharmonic, and the Anhalt Philharmonic Orchestra in Dessau.

Between 2019 and 2021, he served as First Kapellmeister at the Aalto Musiktheater und Philharmonie Essen, where he conducted productions such as Reimann’s Medea, Wagner’s Ring an einem Abend, revivals of Puccini’s Tosca, Bizet’s Carmen, and various other operas and concerts.

In 2021, he made a highly acclaimed debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper Festival in Munich with Dvořák’s Rusalka. He conducted a gala concert celebrating Eva Urbanová’s career anniversary at the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre and led a concert performance of Dvořák’s Rusalka at the Jarmila Novotná Festival in Liteň.

From September 2021 to August 2024, he served as Chief Conductor of the State Philharmonic Košice. His other recent projects include productions of Verdi’s La traviata at the Slovak National Theatre, Weinberger’s Schwanda the Bagpiper in Graz, Janáček’s Jenůfa at the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo, The Cunning Little Vixen at the Bayerische Staatsoper, and, in 2023, one of the orchestra’s anniversary concerts at the Bayerische Staatsoper.

Since September 2022, he has held the position of Music Director of the National Theatre in Prague and Principal Guest Conductor of the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra.

In the 2024/2025 season, Jindra made notable debuts at the Staatsoper Berlin Unter den Linden (Janáček’s The Makropulos Affair), Semperoper Dresden (Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette), and Oper Frankfurt (Janáček’s From the House of the Dead). In upcoming seasons, he will perform at prestigious venues, including the Vienna State Opera, Bregenz Festival, and Theater an der Wien.

Throughout his career, Jindra has collaborated with many distinguished artists, including Cornelia Beskow, Susan Bullock, Lise Davidsen, Ermonela Jaho, Jana Kurucová, Elena Maximova, Olga Peretyatko, Rosalind Plowright, Štěpánka Pučálková, Nadine Secunde, Elena Tsallagova, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Slávka Zámečníková, Arnold Bezuyen, Pavol Breslik, Pavel Černoch, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Peter Kellner, Tomasz Konieczny, Marek Kozák, Ambrogio Maestri, Štefan Margita, Adam Plachetka, Gustavo Porta, Roberto Saccà, Jiří Vodička, and Lukáš Vondráček.

source: www.robertjindra.com

The Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra is a leading contemporary Czech orchestra. Since the 2022/2023 season, it has been led by chief conductor and artistic director Petr Popelka. Robert Jindra has served as principal guest conductor since September 2022.

In the 2025/2026 concert season, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra welcomes a number of outstanding musicians, including violinists Christian Tetzlaff and Marc Bouchkov, and conductors Jonathan Nott, Tomáš Hanus, Erina Yashima and Andris Poga. Audiences can also look forward to performances by pianists Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Isata Kanneh-Mason, as well as singers Szilvia Vörös and Günther Groissböck. Particularly notable projects will include performances of Igor Stravinsky’s oratorio Oedipus rex under the direction of chief conductor Petr Popelka, and Camille Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony, conducted by Robert Jindra with organist Christian Schmitt as soloist. Czech musicians will also be prominently represented, led by violinist Josef Špaček, soprano Kateřina Kněžíková, cellist Tomáš Jamník, and pianists Martin Kasík and Marek Kozák.

In recent years, the orchestra has collaborated with many distinguished conductors, such as Omer Meir Wellber, Cornelius Meister, Ilan Volkov, Wayne Marshall, Ion Marin, Stephan Asbury, Alexander Liebreich, Michał Nesterowicz, Anu Tali and Jessica Cottis; Czech conductors have included e.g. Jakub Hrůša, Tomáš Netopil, Petr Altrichter and Robert Kružík.

Internationally acclaimed soloists who have appeared with the orchestra include pianists Krystian Zimerman and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet; violinists Isabelle Faust, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Renaud Capuçon, Gidon Kremer and María Dueñas; cellists Gautier Capuçon, Daniel Müller-Schott, István Várdai and Steven Isserlis; trombonist Christian Lindberg; and jazz musicians Brad Mehldau and Avishai Cohen. Vocal soloists have included Asmik Grigorian, Elisabeth Teige, Olga Bezsmertna and Michael Weinius, while artists from the Czech music scene include Lukáš Vondráček, Ivo Kahánek, Jan Bartoš, Josef Špaček, Jan Mráček, Adam Plachetka, Simona Šaturová, Petr Nekoranec and Vilém Veverka.

The Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra has a long-standing commitment to performing works by contemporary Czech composers, such as Miroslav Srnka, Ondřej Adámek, Martin Smolka, Pavel Zemek Novák, Jan Ryant Dřízal, Šimon Voseček, Jana Vöröšová, Jan Klusák, Jiří Kadeřábek, Lukáš Hurník, Zbyněk Matějů and Ondřej Štochl.

Recording is also an important part of the orchestra’s work. One of its most acclaimed projects is the album Má vlast, featuring Bedřich Smetana’s symphonic cycle. Released at the end of 2024 after three years in the making, the recording received a Gramophone Editor’s Choice award, the Diapason d’Or ARTE from the prestigious French magazine Diapason, and a nomination for the 2024 Czech Anděl Award  from the Czech Music Academy. In 2024, the orchestra further expanded its discography with a number of recordings in a wide range of musical genres. These include the album Forgotten Czech Piano Concertos, featuring works by Karel Kovařovic, Pavel Bořkovec and Vítězslava Kaprálová. Several jazz and contemporary music projects were created in collaboration with composers and performers such as Luboš Soukup (Scandinavian Impressions), Jaromír Honzák (The Blues of a String Hanging in the Wind), Michal Rataj and Oskar Török (Letters from Sounds), and Vít Křišťan (Mandala). Clarinetist Anna Paulová recorded the album Clarinet Metamorphoses with the orchestra under the direction of Tomáš Brauner, while the recording ’O sole mio with Daniel Matoušek was conducted by Jan Kučera.

The Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra regularly performs concerts from its subscription series at the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum, Smetana Hall of the Municipal House and Bethlehem Chapel, as well as at other venues including Forum Karlín and Czech Radio’s Studio 1. It is a regular guest at major festivals such as the Prague Spring, Dvořák Prague Festival, Smetana’s Litomyšl, Leoš Janáček International Music Festival and the Český Krumlov International Music Festival. In addition, the orchestra frequently performs abroad on stages across Europe and in Japan.

source: The Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

photo © Petr Neubert