Born in the Czech Republic and described by Gramophone as ‘on the verge of
greatness’, Jakub Hrůša is Chief Conductor of Bamberg Symphony, Principal
Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra, Permanent Guest Conductor of the
Czech Philharmonic, Principal Guest Conductor of Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony
Orchestra, and served as Music Director and Chief Conductor of PKF-Prague
Philharmonia from 2009–2015.
He is a regular guest with many of the world’s greatest orchestras. Recent
highlights have included débuts with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale
di Santa Cecilia, Filarmonica della Scala, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mahler
Chamber Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, and Chicago Symphony;
Bohemian Legends and The Mighty Five – two major series specially devised for
the Philharmonia Orchestra; and returns to the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, The
Cleveland Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, DSO Berlin, and Los Angeles Philharmonic.
The 17/18 season will see his débuts with the San Francisco Symphony and Munich
Philharmonic Orchestra.
As a conductor of opera, he has been a regular guest with Glyndebourne Festival,
conducting The Cunning Little Vixen, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Carmen, The
Turn of the Screw, Don Giovanni and La bohème, and serving as Music Director of
Glyndebourne On Tour for three years. Elsewhere he has led productions for
Vienna State Opera (a new production of The Makropulos Case), Opéra National de
Paris (Rusalka), Frankfurt Opera (Il trittico), Finnish National Opera
(Jenůfa), Royal Danish Opera (Boris Godunov), and Prague National Theatre (The
Cunning Little Vixen and Rusalka). This season will see his return to the Opera
National de Paris (The Merry Widow), and his début at the Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden (Carmen).
As a recording artist, he has released six discs of Czech music for Supraphon.
His latest disc for Supraphon is a life recording of Smetana’s Má vlast with
Prague Philharmonia from the opening concert of the Prague Spring festival in
2010.
Jakub Hrůša studied conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague,
where his teachers included Jiří Bělohlávek, and where he now lives with his
wife and two children. He is currently President of the International Martinů
Circle. In 2015 he was the inaugural recipient of the Sir Charles
Mackerras Prize.