Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra Centenary Concert

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

German-Japanese conductor Elias Grandy is increasingly recognized as a distinctive voice among today’s conductors. He is admired for his passionate temperament, precise musicianship, and an effortless podium presence that brings even the most complex musical ideas to life with clarity, depth, and emotional intensity. Grandy was most recently appointed Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Designate of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. His tenure in Prague will begin in the 2026/27 season.

Grandy was appointed Chief Conductor of the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra in 2025, following on from eight successful seasons as Music Director of the Theater and Orchester Heidelberg in Germany, a position he held until 2023. He is equally at home in both symphonic and operatic repertoire.

In the 2025/26 season, Grandy returns to the Norwegian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as to Oper Frankfurt with Puccini’s Tosca, Nikikai Opera Tokyo with Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, and the Semperoper Dresden with Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. With the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, he will perform Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben and Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with Gerhild Romberger, amongst other works. Debut performances this season take him to the RTV Slovenian Symphony Orchestra and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra.

Highlights of recent seasons include highly successful guest conducting appearances with orchestras such as the Vienna Symphony, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Brussels Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Belgique, Antwerp Symphony, Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires at Teatro Colón, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Kyoto Philharmonic, Utah Symphony, and Minnesota Orchestra.

A passionate advocate of musical storytelling, Grandy has led critically acclaimed productions of Elektra and Carmen at Minnesota Opera, Werther and A Village Romeo and Juliet at Frankfurt Opera, Un ballo in maschera at the Aalto-Theatre Essen, Carmen at Nikikai Opera Tokyo, and Rusalka at Portland Opera.

Born in Munich, Grandy studied cello, music theory, and chamber music in Basel and Munich before turning to conducting at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin. He launched his professional career as Resident Conductor at the Staatstheater Darmstadt and was a prizewinner at the Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition in 2015.

source: IMG Artists

photo © Shervin Lainez

Daniel Matejča, born in Liberec on 30 April 2005, started playing the violin at the age of four under the guidance of his mother, Olesie Voličková. After one year, he joined Professor Ivan Štraus’s class and has been studying with him ever since.

His significant achievements include first prizes at the Josef Muzika International Violin Competition between 2013–2017 (2014 – special prize: a master instrument by Tomáš Pilař) and winning the absolute prize at the School of Art Competition in 2017. As a prizewinner of the Kocian Violin Competition in 2016 and 2018, he appeared in many concerts. In 2019, he became a laureate of the Kocian Violin Competition. He is also the recipient of the Zlatý oříšek Award (2017).

In 2019, he won first prize at the Jugend musiziert Competition in Halle. In the same year, he performed Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with the Liberec Symphony Orchestra at the F. X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec. In 2020, he won first prize at the International Georg Philipp Telemann Violin Competition in Poznań. In the same year, he won second prize at the Concertino Praga competition, performing Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. He recorded the same concerto with the Pardubice Philharmonic Orchestra in May 2021.

In 2021, he was admitted to study at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He also studied at the Imola Music Academy, where he worked with Maurizio Scirarretta and also with Boris Belkin. Later that year, he won the television competition Virtuosos V4+. In 2022, he won the Eurovision Young Musicians competition in Montpellier.

In the same year, he recorded six Ysaÿe sonatas for Supraphon; the CD was released at the beginning of 2023. One month after its release, the album became the best-selling classical CD in the Czech Republic. It received highly positive reviews in international magazines such as BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone and was compared, for example, with Hilary Hahn’s recording of Ysaÿe’s sonatas.

Together with pianist Jan Schulmeister, he won first prize in the chamber music category of Concertino Praga in 2023. In 2024, he was selected for Forbes 30 Under 30 and completed his bachelor’s degree, alongside an intensive international concert schedule. He also received the Josef Hlávka Award.

In 2025, he made his debut with the Czech Philharmonic. In the same year, he released two albums for Supraphon: concertos by Shostakovich and Prokofiev with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and Tomáš Netopil, as well as a chamber music album with Jan Schulmeister. Both recordings received excellent reviews from international media.

He performs primarily across Europe as well as worldwide, including France, Italy, Austria, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Poland, Singapore, Japan, and other countries.

Daniel also takes part in various violin courses, including the music courses in Litomyšl, the Liberec International Violin Academy, the Imola Summer Festival in Italy, and the International Music Academy Orpheus in Vienna. During these courses, he works with international professors such as Stephen Schipps, Simon James, and Michael Frischenschlager. He has also participated in masterclasses led by Jiří Vodička, Christian Tetzlaff, and Augustin Hadelich.

source: Daniel Matejča

photo © Tomáš Krist

Sakura gave her first solo recital in March 2019. In October of that year, she performed at Suntory Hall with Japan Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Ryusuke Numajiri as a soloist in Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme. Since then, she has performed with NHK Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Gunma Symphony Orchestra, City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, Yokohama Sinfonietta, Mt. Fuji Philharmonic Orchestra, and Vienna Chamber Orchestra, working with conductors Koichiro Harada, Naoto Otomo, Junichi Hirokami, Joji Hattori, Takeshi Ooi, Kazuki Yamada, Kosuke Tsunoda, Nodoka Okisawa, Taichi Deguchi, Gen Ohta, and Stephanie Childress.

She has also appeared at Tokyo Spring Festival and many other recitals, and in 2020 was heard on NHK-FM’s classical programme Recital Passio.

In November 2019, she was awarded the 2nd Shinji Hattori Music Award, which is given to internationally promising young musicians.

Sakura plays on a cello made by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume in Paris, Rue Croix-des-Petits-Champs, in 1840, which is on loan from the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation. Sakura toured with Mutter’s Virtuosi in June and September 2023 in Europe. She has been a scholarship holder of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation since 2025.

Sakura began studying the cello at the age of six with Hakuro Mori. She has also attended masterclasses by Antonio Meneses and David Geringas at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana Summer Academy. She is a recipient of the 50th Ezoe Memorial Recruit Foundation Scholarship (since 2021) and the ROHM Music Foundation Scholarship (2021 and 2022).

She is currently studying at Berlin University of the Arts with Professor Jens-Peter Maintz since October 2022.

source: Sakura Toba

photo © Julia Wesely