Czech Philharmonic, Ingo Metzmacher, Václav Petr

Chosen as Gramophone’s 2024 ‘Orchestra of the Year’, this season the Czech Philharmonic will be a guest in the most prestigious halls across East Asia – Taiwan, Japan and South Korea – as well as major cities in Germany, Italy, Austria, Luxembourg and Belgium. In the Czech Republic, the orchestra appears at its home, the Rudolfinum in Prague, at festivals including Prague Spring, Dvořák Prague and Smetana Litomyšl, as well as at international festivals such as Grafenegg, George Enescu and Bad Kissingen.

The Czech Philharmonic and its Chief Conductor and Music Director, Semyon Bychkov, launch the 130th season in Prague with two programmes that feature composers who have been particularly significant throughout Bychkov’s career: Tchaikovsky, with whom he initiated his tenure with the Czech Philharmonic; and Shostakovich, whose 50th anniversary is being commemorated across the world. Both programmes also feature works for piano: Ravel’s Piano Concerto and Strauss’ Burleske.

The Czech Philharmonic’s programmes with Bychkov this season feature Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella and The Rite of Spring, Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder and concertos by Elgar, Brahms and Bryce Dessner, the 130th season’s Composer-in-Residence. In November, Bychkov will conduct Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the 130th season Artist-in-Residence, Evgeny Kissin. Kissin will also give a solo recital as part of his residency.

2024 was the Year of Czech Music and the bicentenary of Bedřich Smetana, commemorated by the Czech Philharmonic and Bychkov with a new recording of Má vlast on PENTATONE. This recording, recently nominated for a 2025 BBC Music Magazine Award, was followed by the release of Dvořák’s Symphonies Nos. 7, 8 and 9, and the culmination of the Year of Czech Music in New York with a three-day residency at Carnegie Hall. In its review of the concerts, The New York Times described the Czech Philharmonic as “a timeless treasure… and an excellent steward for its country’s musical heritage.” In 2025, the orchestra celebrates the 150th anniversary of Vltava – the iconic second poem of Má vlast – with performances in Prague and East Asia.

The two Principal Guest Conductors of the Czech Philharmonic, Sir Simon Rattle and Jakub Hrůša, both conduct the orchestra this season. In December, Rattle leads the Czech Philharmonic and the women of the Prague Philharmonic Choir in music by Debussy, Messiaen and Mahler, as well as a programme of works by Berlioz, Lutosławski and Beethoven with the Czech Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (CPYO). In September, PENTATONE release Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances conducted by Rattle, and with Jakub Hrůša continue their exploration of music by Josef Suk. Hrůša will also conduct music by Sibelius, Britten and the Czech premiere of Dessner’s St. Carolyn by the Sea for two electric guitars.

Each year the CPYO collaborates with a conductor appearing with the Czech Philharmonic and this season, in addition to Rattle, they will also work on Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 with Giovanni Antonini. Antonini is of course just one of the many guest conductors invited by the Czech Philharmonic during its 130th season. Audiences can also look forward to the return of Dalia Stasevska, Sir Antonio Pappano, Cristian Măcelaru, David Robertson, Petr Popelka, and Thomas Adès, who conducts a programme in honour of Pierre Boulez’s 100th birthday. The 2025 Velvet Revolution concerts, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 ‘Resurrection’ with the Prague Philharmonic Choir, will be conducted by Zubin Mehta.

In addition to Artist-in-Residence Evgeny Kissin, soloists featured this season include Mao Fujita, Barbara Hannigan, Amihai Grosz, Fleur Barron and Anastasia Kobekina, who are appearing with the Czech Philharmonic for the first time in Prague, and home-grown and international artists Magdalena Kožená, Josef Špaček, Seong-Jin Cho, Víkingur Ólafsson, Augustin Hadelich, Sol Gabetta and Nicola Benedetti, who return to the orchestra.

The Czech Philharmonic’s extraordinary and proud history reflects both its location at the very heart of Europe and the Czech Republic’s turbulent political history. Throughout the orchestra’s history, two features have remained at its core: its championing of Czech composers and its belief in music’s power to change lives. From as early as the 1920s, Václav Talich pioneered concerts for workers, young people and voluntary organisations, a philosophy which remains equally vibrant today. Alongside the CPYO, Orchestral Academy and the Jiří Bělohlávek Prize for young musicians, a comprehensive education strategy engages with more than 400 schools and an inspirational music and song programme led by singer Ida Kelarová for the extensive Romany communities has helped many socially excluded families to find a voice.

An early champion of the music of Martinů and Janáček, the Czech Philharmonic’s first concert in 1896 was an all-Dvořák programme conducted by the composer himself. Works by Czech composers – both established and new – remain the orchestra’s lifeblood. At the start of his tenure in 2018, Semyon Bychkov initiated the commissioning of works from fourteen Czech and international composers including Detlev Glanert, Julian Anderson, Thomas Larcher, Bryce Dessner and Thierry Escaich. Equally recognised for its special relationship with the music of Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Mahler – who conducted the world premiere of his Symphony No. 7 with the orchestra in 1908 – the Czech Philharmonic and Bychkov are currently mid-way through a Mahler cycle. The cycle – the orchestra’s first complete new recording of the symphonies since Václav Neumann’s more than 40 years ago – will be released by PENTATONE as a box set in spring 2026.

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