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Jakub Hrůša

Principal Guest Conductor


"The Czech Philharmonic is very close to my heart artistically and personally.  With the leading orchestra of our country, I have repeatedly experienced moments of beauty and deep feeling on the podium. I regard it as an honour that I may continue to be a part of the innermost musical family of the Czech Philharmonic, alongside Chief Conductor Semyon Bychkov and together with my wonderful colleague Tomáš Netopil."

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Biography

Born in the Czech Republic, Jakub Hrůša is Chief Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony, Music Director Designate of The Royal Opera, Covent Garden (Music Director from 2025), Principal Guest Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He is the 2023 Opus Klassik Conductor of the Year.

He is a frequent guest with many of the world’s greatest orchestras, including the Vienna, Berlin, Munich and New York Philharmonics; Bavarian Radio, NHK, Chicago and Boston Symphonies; Leipzig Gewandhaus, Lucerne Festival, Royal Concertgebouw, Mahler Chamber and The Cleveland Orchestras; and the Staatskapelle Dresden, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. He has led opera productions for the Salzburg Festival, Vienna State Opera, Royal Opera House, Opéra National de Paris, Zurich Opera and Lyric Opera Chicago. He has also been a regular guest with Glyndebourne Festival and served as Music Director of Glyndebourne On Tour for three years.

His relationships with leading vocal and instrumental soloists have included collaborations in recent seasons with Daniil Trifonov, Mitsuko Uchida, Hélène Grimaud, Behzod Abduraimov, Anne Sofie Mutter, Lisa Batiashvili, Joshua Bell, Yefim Bronfman, Rudolf Buchbinder, Janine Jansen, Karita Mattila, Leonidas Kavakos, Lang Lang, Josef Špaček, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Yuja Wang, Frank Peter Zimmermann and Alisa Weilerstein. 

As a recording artist, Jakub Hrůša has received numerous awards and nominations for his discography. Most recently with Bamberg Symphony, he received the International Classical Music Award Prize for Symphonic Music in both 2023 and 2022, for his recordings of Rott’s Symphony No. 1 and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4. He was awarded the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik for his recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, and in 2021 his recording of Martinů and Bartók Violin Concertos with Frank Peter Zimmermann was nominated for BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone Awards, and his disc of the Dvořák Violin Concerto with the Bavarian Radio Symphony and Augustin Hadelich was nominated for a Grammy ® Award. His recordings of Dvořák and Martinů Piano Concertos with Ivo Kahánek and the Bamberg Symphony (Supraphon), and Vanessa from Glyndebourne (Opus Arte) both won BBC Music Magazine Awards in 2020. With the Czech Philharmonic, he has most recently recorded Dvořák’s Requiem and Te Deum (Decca). 

Jakub Hrůša studied conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where his teachers included Jiří Bělohlávek. He is currently President of the International Martinů Circle and The Dvořák Society, and an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. He was the inaugural recipient of the Sir Charles Mackerras Prize, and in 2020 was awarded both the Antonín Dvořák Prize by the Czech Republic’s Academy of Classical Music, and – together with Bamberg Symphony – the Bavarian State Prize for Music.

Concerts

Media

Jakub Hrůša: Martinů's first violin concerto has fallen into disrepute, now it meets with an extraordinary response

Jakub Hrůša: Martinů's first violin concerto has fallen into disrepute, now it meets with an extraordinary response
  • YouTube

Principal Guest Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Jakub Hrůša talks about the programme of the subscription concerts, which will include the world premiere of Slavomír Hořínka's Joy III, Josef Suk's Fairytale of Summer and Bohuslav Martinů's first violin concerto. Maestro says that it's a piece that is now enjoying a renaissance. The concert will be given by the orchestra's artistic partner Josef Špaček.

Jakub Hrůša: Orchestra should also play unknown works

Jakub Hrůša: Orchestra should also play unknown works
  • YouTube

“It is good to occasionally programme works that are played very little or hardly at all. I think every orchestra should try to enliven the season in this way.” Jakub Hrůša, Principal Guest Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic speaks about the selection of works for the concert season.