Artists

Prague Symphony Orchestra

The Prague Symphony Orchestra was founded in the autumn of 1934 by the conductor Rudolf Pekárek. He defined the new ensemble’s fields of activity with the words Film-Opera-Koncert, and such the abbreviation FOK became part of the orchestra’s title. By recording music for the majority of Czech films in the 1930s and performing regularly in live broadcasts on the Czechoslovak Radio, the FOK Orchestra made a name for itself and its economic existence was assured. This allowed the gradual development of regular concerts, whose main promoter from the very beginning was Dr. Václav Smetáček.

Within a very short time Dr. Smetáček managed to build the orchestra into a large symphonic ensemble, challenging the standards of its strong domestic competition. In 1942 he became the orchestra’s chief conductor and he stood as its head for a full thirty years. During the period of his leadership the orchestra achieved a high performance standard and international renown.

In 1952, the City of Prague granted the FOK Orchestra status as the representative orchestra of the city. The traditional acronym “FOK” was retained, and the new title of the orchestra became Symphony Orchestra of the Capital City of Prague – FOK. In 1957 the orchestra departed on its first foreign tour – to Poland, Italy, Austria, and Germany – and thus inaugurated its regular and intensive engagement on the international sce­ne.

After Smetáček’s de­parture from the post of chief conductor, artistic leadership was taken over in succession by Ladislav Slovák (1972–1976), Jindřich Rohan (1976–1977), and then Jiří Bělohlávek (1977–1989), whose work marked an important stage from the standpoint of the ensemble’s in­tensive artistic development. After Bělohlávek came Petr Altrichter (1990–1992), Martin Turnovský (1992–1995), and Gaetano Delogu (1995–1998). Other important Czech conductors who have worked with the orchestra for an extensive time include Václav Neumann, Zdeněk Košler, and Vladimír Válek. From March 2001 to the end of the 2005/2006 concert season, the Chief Conductor and Music Director of the orchestra was Serge Baudo. Since the 2006/2007 concert season, Jiří Kout has held the the position of Chief Conductor, whilst Serge Baudo is the honorary Conductor. In 2015/2016–2019/2020 Pietari Inkinen was Chief Conductor. Tomáš Brauner assumed the role of Chief Conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra in September 2020.

Over the course of the orchestra’s history many of the world´s most important conductors have appeared with the FOK as guest conductors, as well as a wide range of soloists. The orchestra has performed in nearly every country in Europe, repeatedly in Japan and the USA, and has also visited South America, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, Korea, Turkey, Israel and Oman.

Another testimony to the orchestra’s work is its extensive catalogue of phonograph, radio, and television recordings including both Czech and worldwide repertoire. Most of the commercial recordings have been made for the Supraphon label, but the orchestra’s name also appears on recordings for BMG, Conifer, Philips, Erato, Universal, Harmonia Mundi (Praga), Victor, Koch International, Panton and Music Vars.

The founder of the Prague Symphony Orchestra is the capital city of Prague.

www.fok.cz

Discography

Prague Symphony Orchestra, Tomáš Brauner
SU 4342-2
Prague Symphony Orchestra, Tomáš Brauner
SU 4332-2
Prague Symphony Orchestra, Václav Smetáček
SU 4314-2
Lukáš Vondráček, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Tomáš Brauner
SU 4323-2
Various Artists
SU 4302-2
Czech Philharmonic, Prague Symphony Orchestra, conductor Sir Charles Mackerras
SU 4301-1
Prague Symphony Orchestra, Tomáš Brauner
SU 4294-2
Various Artists
SU 4250-2
Ivan Moravec
SU 4245-2
Collegium Musicum Pragensae, Prague Symphony Orchestra, František Vajnar
SU 4228-2
Various Artists
SU 4187-2
Ida Haendel
SU 4162-2
Václav Neumann
SU 4133-2
Mstislav Rostropovich
SU 4101-2
Various Artists
SU 4123-2
Various Artists
SU 4122-2
Various Artists
SU 4109-2
Josef Suk, Jan Panenka, Josef Chuchro
SU 4107-2
Martin Turnovský
SU 4082-2
Charles Mackerras
SU 4041-2
Pavel Šporcl, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Jiří Kout
SU 3962-2
Josef Suk
SU 4000-2
František Hanták
SU 3991-2
Prague Symphony Orchestra, Václav Smetáček
SU 3968-2
Prague Symphony Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek
SU 3956-2
Prague Symphony Orchestra, Tomáš Netopil
SU 3941-2
Various Artists
SU 3925-2
Various Artists
SU 3908-2
Eva Urbanová
SU 3935-2
Prague Symphony Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek
SU 3918-2
André Gertler, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Václav Smetáček
SU 3904-2
Prague Symphony Orchestra, Václav Smetáček
SU 3895-2
Various Artists
SU 3892-2
Prague Symphony Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras
SU 3848-2
Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vladimír Válek
SU 3862-2
Various Artists
SU 3850-2
Ida Haendel, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Václav Smetáček
SU 3782-2
Various Artists
SU 3735-2
Various Artists
SU 3658-2
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Karel Ančerl
SU 3670-2
Prague Symphony Orchestra, Gaetano Delogu
SU 3576-2
Various Artists
SU 3169-2
Josef Suk
SU 3164-2
Jiří Bělohlávek, Prague Symphony Orchestra
SU 3436-2
Prague Symphony Orchestra/Jiří Bělohlávek
SU 3166-2
Gabriela Demeterová, Prague Symphony Orchestra/Libor Pešek
SU 3385-2
soloists,Prague Symphony Orchestra/Jiří Bělohlávek
SU 3311-2
soloists, Prague Symphony Orchestra/Jiří Pinkas
SU 3314-2
Mirka Pokorná, Jiří Bělohlávek, Vladimír Válek etc.
SU 3107-2
Prague Philharmony Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek
SU 3091-2
Various Artists
SU 3058-2
Prague Philharmonic Choir, Josef Veselka
SU 3040-2
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Václav Neumann, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek
SU 0198-2
Various Artists
SU 0185-2
Various Artists
11 2141-2
Prague Symphony Orchestra, Václav Smetáček
11 1821-2
Prague Symphony Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek
11 1802-2
Prague Symphony Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek
11 0380-2
Prague Symphony Orchestra, Václav Smetáček
10 1429-2