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

Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Prague Symphony Orchestra (FOK) since September 2025

Since the start of the 2025/2026 season, Tomáš Netopil has held the post of chief conductor and music director of the Prague Symphony Orchestra (FOK). Between 2009 and 2012, he was chief conductor of the National Theatre Opera in Prague, and from 2013 to 2023 he served as general music director of the Aalto Musiktheater and Philharmonie Essen. From 2018 to 2024, he was principal guest conductor of the Czech Philharmonic.

This season, Tomáš Netopil has conducted a trio of Mozart operas: La clemenza di Tito at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, The Magic Flute at the New National Theatre Tokyo, and Don Giovanni at the Cologne Opera. He led the Czech Philharmonic’s New Year’s Concert at Prague’s Rudolfinum in a live television broadcast. He will present a broad array of symphonic repertoire during engagements with the Oslo Philharmonic, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Kuopio Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, among others. He will also return to the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo this season and make his debut with the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire. Continuing his successful collaboration with the legendary Concentus Musicus Wien, he will perform Mozart’s Requiem at this year’s Prague Spring Festival.

Among Tomáš Netopil’s notable operatic collaborations, in addition to numerous productions at the Aalto Musiktheater Essen, are frequent appearances with the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden, Vienna State Opera, Dutch National Opera and the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

On the concert stage, he has conducted many world-renowned orchestras, including, in addition to the Essen Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic and the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Orchestre de Paris, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra RAI Torino.

Tomáš Netopil is the artistic director of the International Summer Music Academy Kroměříž, which he founded in 2018.

He studied violin at the P. J. Vejvanovský Conservatory in Kroměříž and conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, continuing his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm and the Aspen Music Festival and School in the USA, where he won the main prize of the American Academy of Conducting in both 2003 and 2004. He remains a regular guest conductor there. In 2002, he won the Sir Georg Solti Conductors’ Competition in Frankfurt.

His most recent recording — an album of Smetana opera arias with tenor Pavel Černoch and the Czech Philharmonic — was nominated for the 2024 Anděl Awards.

source: The Prague Symphony Orchestra (FOK)

photo © Marco Borggreve

The outstanding German violinist Christian Tetzlaff comes from a musical family; he himself began playing violin at the age of six. He first attracted significant attention as a soloist in 1988, with a superb performance of Schoenberg’s Violin Concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra. The very next year he made his New York debut in a solo recital. Tetzlaff’s approach to interpretation is characterised by his dedication to the musical score while also striving to maximise his communication of the composer’s message to listeners. Furthermore, he often turns his attention to forgotten works, such as the Violin Concerto in D minor by Joseph Joachim, a leading virtuoso of the 19th century. He has more than 40 CDs to his credit, a number of which have earned prestigious awards, including the Diapason d’Or and the MIDEM Classical Award. He founded the Tetzlaff Quartet in 1994 with his sister, cellist Tanja Tetzlaff, violinist Elisabeth Kufferath, and violist Hanna Weinmeister. In its quarter century of existence, the ensemble has earned great international renown with both critics and the public.

The Rudolfinum is one of the most important Neo-Renaissance edifices in the Czech Republic. In its conception as a multi-purpose cultural centre it was quite unique in Europe at the time of its construction. Based on a joint design by two outstanding Czech architects, Josef Zítek and Josef Schultz, a magnificent building was erected serving for concerts, as a gallery, and as a museum. The grand opening on 7 February 1885 was attended by Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, in whose honour the structure was named. In 1896 the very first concert of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra took place in the Rudolfinum's main concert hall, under the baton of the composer Antonín Dvořák whose name was later bestowed on the hall.