Prague Philharmonia

The Prague Philharmonia was founded in 1994 on the initiative of the conductor Jiří Bělohlávek (1946–⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠2017) under the original name Prague Chamber Philharmonia. Since the 2015–16 season the orchestra has been led by the French conductor Emmanuel Villaume.

Today it is one of the most recognised orchestras, not only among Czech but also world ensembles. Regular invitations to tour abroad as well as recording projects with the most renowned international labels bear testimony to this.

Freshness, energy and perfectionism are characteristics inscribed in the orchestra’s ‘Birth Certificate’, as well as a love of music expressed in each of their concerts. Behind the highly valued distinctive sound of the Prague Philharmonia is partly its key repertoire, which has been from the beginning Viennese Classicism, namely compositions by Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. However, the orchestra is remarkably flexible in this respect, and is capable of expanding from concertanto repertoire for a chamber set up without a conductor, to projects involving a large symphony orchestra augmented by extra players from the Orchestral Academy. In this way, even as a large body, the orchestra is able to retain the characteristic sound that Jiří Bělohlávek honed with them over a period of eleven years, as well as its esprit, linking the generation of excellent, experienced players with the greatly talented and perfectly technically prepared younger players.

Prague Philharmonia is a frequent partner of renowned conductors and soloists, including Christopher Hogwood, Michel Swierczewski, Libor Pešek, Shlomo Mintz, Julian Rachlin, Robert McDuffie, Martha Argerich, Yefim Bronfman, András Schiff, Emmanuel Pahud, Gautier Capuçon, Daniel Müller-Schott, Sarah Chang, Isabelle Faust, Gábor Boldoczki, Jonas Kaufmann, Luciano Pavarotti, Diana Damrau, Anna Netrebko, Angela Gheorghiu, Plácido Domingo, Elina Garanča, Juan Diego Flórez, Thomas Hampson, Magdalena Kožená and many others.

Prague Philharmonia is regularly invited to international music festivals and gives concerts at top world venues (BBC Proms, MITO Settembre Musica, Prague Spring, Festspielhaus Baden Baden, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Gasteig Munich, Berliner Philharmonie, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman, Tokyo Suntory Hall, Paris, San Francisco…).

Over the period of its existence, the orchestra has recorded over 90 CDs released by leading Czech and world music publishers, such as Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, Supraphon, EMI, Warner Classics and Harmonia Mundi. A number of them have been awarded prizes, such as the Gold Record RAC Canada in 2000, Harmony Award in 2001 and Diapason d’Or in September 2007. The CD Heroique with Bryan Hymel was in 2016 nominated for an International Opera Award and a recording of Bohemian Rhapsody with the trumpet player Gábor Boldoczki for Sony Classical was nominated at the Classical Music Award 2018. The Prague Philharmonia has collaborated on recordings with Anna Netrebko, Magdalena Kožená, Bryan Hymel, Isabelle Faust, Eva Urbanová, Andrew von Oeyen, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Iva Bittová and Dagmar Pecková. Among the critically acclaimed CDs stands out the live recording of Smetana’s Má vlast (My Country) from the Prague Spring Festival in 2010, conducted by Jakub Hrůša.

In 2017 a CD ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ with Prague Philharmonia and the trumpet player Gábor Boldoczki was released by Sony Classical and the eagerly anticipated CD ‘Eternamente’ with the soprano Angela Gheorghiu was launched by Warner Classics. Its most recent ‘profile’ recording CD with works by Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and George Bizet with Emmanuel Villaume released by Warner Classics received excellent reviews from the London Sunday Times, Gramophone and the BBC Music Magazine, which included it in its top ten recordings of the week. In November 2019 saw the release of the long-awaited debut album by the tenor Benjamin Bernheim in collaboration with the orchestra by Deutsche Grammophon.

www.prgphil.cz