Czech Philharmonic, Ingo Metzmacher, Václav Petr

Named Gramophone’s Orchestra of the Year in 2024, the Czech Philharmonic is recognised as one of the world’s leading orchestras and remains the Czech Republic’s key cultural ambassador. Now in its 131^st season, the orchestra combines a deep-rooted musical tradition with an international artistic outlook, expanding its profile through tours, residencies and recordings.

During the 2024 Year of Czech Music, the Czech Philharmonic and its Chief Conductor and Music Director Semyon Bychkov gave a three-day residency at New York’s Carnegie Hall. That same year saw the release of their recording of Smetana’s Má vlast (My Country), which went onto win the 2025 BBC Music Magazine Orchestral Award. In addition to Czech music, the orchestra’s long-standing relationship with composers such as Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Mahler has resulted in a series of benchmark recordings, including The Tchaikovsky Project (2019) and the first new cycle of Mahler symphonies in more than 40 years, released in 2026. The next release with Bychkov features Shostakovich’s Symphony Nos. 5 and 7.

The 131st season opens in Prague with Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 featuring Artist-in-Residence Janine Jansen, alongside Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7. Touring highlights include the orchestra’s first visit in over 50 years to Sweden and Finland, a return to Lucerne Festival, and residencies in London, Vienna and Hamburg. At home, the Czech Philharmonic performs at the Rudolfinum in Prague and at leading Czech festivals including Dvořák Prague, Prague Spring, Smetana Litomyšl, and for the first time, Janáček Brno.

Repertoire this season with Bychkov includes Má vlast; works by Mussorgsky, Ravel, Adams, Strauss, Glanert and Britten; and a major focus on Rachmaninoff, presented both in Prague and on tour. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, performed with the Prague Philharmonic Choir, will mark the 200^th anniversary of the composer’s death in 2027.

Principal Guest Conductors Simon Rattle and Jakub Hrůša both return this season. With Rattle, the orchestra presents music by Barber, Shostakovich, Debussy, Szymanowski and the Czech premiere of Composer-in-Residence Thomas Adès’s Aquifer. With Hrůša – appointed last year as the orchestra’s next Chief Conductor and Music Director (Renáta Kellnerová Chair) from the 2028/2029 season – they perform works by Strauss, Beethoven, Suk and a world premiere by Martin Smolka.

Guest conductors this season include Vasily Petrenko, Herbert Blomstedt, Elim Chan, Maxim Emilyanchev, and Daniel Harding, who closes the subscription season with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Guest soloists include Yuja Wang, Behzod Abduraimov, Mao Fujita, Yunchan Lim, Seong-Jin Cho, Karen Gomyo, Radek Baborák and Kirill Gerstein.

The Czech Philharmonic’s distinguished history reflects the Czech Republic’s complex political past and its central European location. An early champion of the music of Martinů and Janáček, the Czech Philharmonic gave its first concert in 1896 with an all-Dvořák programme conducted by the composer itself.

Alongside its commitment to championing Czech composers, the orchestra’s belief in the power of music to transform lives remains a defining principle. The Czech Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, Orchestral Academy, and Jiří Bělohlávek Prize for young musicians, form part of the orchestra’s education strategy which engages with more than 400 schools. An inspirational music and song programme led by Ida Kelarová continues to support social inclusion by giving voice to Romany communities through music.

source: Česká filharmonie

Whether as an opera conductor, orchestra leader, festival director or book author: Ingo Metzmacher is consistently committed to music, especially of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Making the new sound familiar and the familiar sound new has been his focus since the beginning of his career.

Ingo Metzmacher was General Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera from 1997 to 2005 and subsequently Chief Conductor at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, as well as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin from 2007 to 2010. Since 2016 he has been the Artistic Director of the KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen, whose next festival edition will take place from 16 May to 2 June 2024.

Ingo Metzmacher is a frequent guest with leading orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and Ensemble Modern, as well as at opera houses and festivals such as the Vienna State Opera, the Opéra national de Paris, Milan's Teatro alla Scala, the Salzburg Festival and the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence.

Highlights of the 2024/25 include his fifth tour with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, performances with the Gewandhausorchester, Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE, Wiener Symphoniker, SWR Symphonieorchester, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester and the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra, and the world premiere of Francesco Filidei’s Il nome della rosa at Teatro alla Scala. He is conducting a new production of lbéric Magnard's Guercœur at the Opéra national du Rhin, Leonard Bernstein's Mass - A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers with the NDR Radiophilharmonie and nine choirs from Hanover as part of the KunstFestSpielen Herrenhausen, as well as the closing concert of the Donaueschinger Musiktage.

Metzmacher’s wide-ranging discography includes live recordings of his legendary New Year’s Eve concerts in Hamburg from 1999 to 2004 entitled Who’s Afraid of 20th Century Music?, a complete recording of Hartmann’s symphonies with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the world premiere of Henze’s Ninth Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic and Messiaen’s Eclairs sur l'Au-delà… with the Vienna Philharmonic. Most recently, he released two recordings with Ensemble Modern: Andre’s cycle riss and Beschenkt – 40 miniatures celebrating the ensembles 40th anniversary.

He is the author of two books: Keine Angst vor neuen Tönen [Don’t Be Afraid of New Sounds] and Vorhang auf! Oper entdecken und erleben [Curtain Up! Discovering and Experiencing Opera].

source: OPUS 3 ARTIST

photo © Felix Broede

Václav Petr is one of the most important Czech cellists of his generation. He was a semi-finalist at the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann international cello competition and the winner of the prestigious 70th-annual Prague Spring Competition. Already in his childhood years, he began attracting attention by winning competitions, for example earning prizes at the Heran International Cello Competition, the International Cello Competition in Lietzen, Austria, and first prize at Prague Junior Note, then he was the overall winner of the Talents for Europe competition. He is a laureate of many other competitions: Concertino Praga, the David Popper International Cello Competition in Hungary, the Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition in Croatia, the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation International Music Competition in Prague, the Dotzauer International Competition for Young Cellists in Germany, and the Rudolf Matz International Competition for Strings in Dubrovnik.

Václav Petr learned the fundamentals of cello playing from Mirko Škampa at the Jan Neruda Grammar School in Prague. At the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, he studied in the studio of Professor Daniel Veis, then he graduated from the studio of Michal Kaňka. He also perfected his playing under the guidance of Wolfgang Boettcher at the Universität der Künste in Berlin. In addition, Václav Petr took part in international masterclasses in Kronberg, Hamburg, and Vaduz, and he participated at the European Academy in Bonn as part of the International Holland Music Sessions, where he was chosen for the studio of Maria Kliegel. In 2015 he took part in masterclasses of the Carl Flesch Academy in Baden-Baden, making a solo appearance with the Baden-Baden Philharmonic.

He began giving solo performances at age 12, and he has appeared as a soloist with such orchestras as the Czech Philharmonic, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Philharmonia, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Pilsen Philharmonic, the Janáček Philharmonic in Ostrava, the Baden-Baden Philharmonic, and Bohdan Warchal’s Slovak Chamber Orchestra.

Last but not least, Václav Petr devotes himself tirelessly to chamber music. From 2009 to 2020 he was a member of the Josef Suk Piano Quartet, with which he won first prize at a competition of chamber music ensembles in Val Tidone, Italy, at the Salieri - Zinetti Chamber Music Competition, and at one of the most prestigious competitions for chamber ensembles with piano, the “Premio Trio di Trieste”.

In October 2013, Václav Petr won the post of concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic cello section. At age 24, he became one of the youngest concertmasters in the orchestra’s history.

Václav Petr plays a master instrument from the workshop of Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, the “Teschenmacher” cello (1757), which is on loan from a private collection.

photo © Lucie Čermáková