Tomáš Netopil / conductor

Chief Conductor and Music Director / Prague Symphony Orchestra (from 2025/26)
Founder and Artistic Director / International Summer Music Academy in Kroměříž (CZ)
Former General Music Director / Aalto Musik Theater and Philharmonie Essen (2013–2023)

An inspirational force, particularly in Czech music, Tomáš Netopil was Principal Guest Conductor with Czech Philharmonic from 2018 to 2024 performing regularly on tour and at concerts in the Rudolfinum Hall in Prague. He will continue to collaborate with the Czech Phil on a regular basis, including conducting the orchestra’s New Year’s concerts, which are live televised. In 2023/24 Tomáš Netopil conducted opera productions including Janáček’s Jenůfa at the Hamburg Staatsoper and Dvořák’s Rusalka at the Prague National Theatre as well as symphonic engagements with Frankfurt Opera Orchestra, Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Naples Philharmonic and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

Opera productions in the 2024/25 season included Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Die Zauberflöte with the New National Theatre Foundation, Tokyo and Don Giovanni with Oper Köln. As Principal Guest Conductor, Netopil conducts Czech Philharmonic Orchestra’s live televised New Year concerts at the Rudolfinum, Prague. He explored a wide range of symphonic repertoire in engagements with Oslo Philharmonic, Antwerp, Kuopio and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. This season saw a welcome return to L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo as well as a debut with Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire. Another return was to Concentus Musicus Wien. As a part of the Prague Spring Festival, Netopil delights the audience with an authentic production of Mozart’s Requiem.

Eight years ago, Tomáš Netopil created the International Summer Music Academy in Kroměříž offering students both exceptional artistic tuition and the opportunity to meet and work with major international musicians. In Summer 2021, in association with the Dvořák Prague Festival, the Academy established the Dvořákova Praha Youth Philharmonic with musicians from conservatories and music academies, coached by principal players of Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Netopil has held a close relationship with the Dvořák Prague Festival for some time and was Artist in Residence in 2017, opening the Festival with Essen Philharmoniker and closing the Festival with Dvořák’s Te Deum and Wiener Symphoniker.

Tomáš Netopil’s recor­dings for labels such as Supraphon, OehmsClassics, Radioservis, Dynamics and Pentatone are highly rated. His discography for Supraphon includes Janáček’s Gla­golitic Mass (the first ever recording of the original 1927 version), Dvořák’s complete cello works, Martinů’s Ariane and Double Concerto, and Smetana’s Má vlast with Prague Symphony Orchestra. During his tenure in Essen, his releases have included recordings of Suk Asrael and Mahler’s Symphony No.2, 3, 6 and 9.

From 2008/12 Tomáš Netopil held the position of Music Director of the Prague National Theatre. He studied violin and conducting in his native Czech Republic, as well as at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm under the guidance of Professor Jorma Panula. In 2002 he won the 1st Sir Georg Solti Conductors Competition at the Alte Oper Frankfurt.

www.tomasnetopil.cz