The Prague Philharmonic Choir is one of Europe’s most important choral ensembles. Founded in 1934 by the legendary choral conductor Jan Kühn, the choir’s original focus of activity as a radio ensemble soon expanded with regular concerts, while its recording activity showcased the choir’s excellence and diversity, earning it wide respect. The choir’s international renown is documented by its collaborations with many of the world’s top conductors (Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado, Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Mehta, Manfred Honeck, Daniel Barenboim, Fabio Luisi, Sir Simon Rattle) and orchestras (Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic). The choir is a regular guest at prestigious music festivals abroad, and it has taken part in opera productions (La Scala, Bregenzer Festspiele). The choir also supports young talent: since 2012 it has been operating an Academy of Choral Singing with a two-year course of study for secondary-school and university students.

Lukáš Vasilek studied conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and musicology at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. From 1998 he was the choirmaster of the Foerster Female Chamber Choir, with which he won a number of awards at prestigious international competitions. From 2005 to 2007 he was the second choirmaster of the opera chorus at Prague’s National Theatre, where he directed rehearsals for several opera productions. Since 2007 he has been the chief choirmaster of the Prague Philharmonic Choir. His highly acclaimed work with that choir includes rehearsing and conducting a broad repertoire from various stylistic periods as well as making several recordings, including an exceptionally successful CD of cantatas by Bohuslav Martinů. Vasilek also works as an orchestral conductor and is the founder of the Martinů Voices chamber choir, where he focuses mainly on interpreting music of the 20th and 21st centuries. He actively works to popularise choral music, having served as moderator in 2012 and 2016 for two programmes on Czech Radio on the art of choral singing.

Conductor Tomáš Netopil, known around the world as one of the most talented Czech conductors, is now in his tenth (and final) year as the general music director of the Aalto Musiktheater and the Philharmonie Essen. This season, awaiting him on his home stage will be premieres of Wagner’s Tannhäuser, Kampe’s Dogville, and Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. He will also be conducting a new production of Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. As the Czech Philharmonic’s principal guest conductor, he will lead concerts at Prague’s Rudofinum and also at the Smetana Litomyšl and Janáček May festivals, of which he is the president. Other highlights from this season include concerts with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Montpellier, and the opening concert of the festival Concentus Moraviae, where he will be at the helm of the legendary Concentus Musicus Wien.

He is the artistic director at the successful international Summer Music Academy in Kroměříž, which he founded in 2018. Tomáš Netopil also has strong ties to the Dvořák Prague Festival: he was its artist-in-residence for the 2017 season, and in 2020 and 2021, the Dvořák Prague Youth Philharmonic appeared at the festival under his baton in cooperation with his Kroměříž academy.

In addition to productions at the Aalto Musiktheater in Essen, Tomáš Netopil has led many important opera performances at the Saxon State Opera in Dresden (La clemenza di Tito, Rusalka, The Bartered Bride, The Cunning Little Vixen, Halévy’s La Juive, and Busoni’s Doktor Faust), the Vienna State Opera (Idomeneo, Die Freischütz, Leonore), the Dutch National Opera (Jenůfa), and the Grand Théâtre de Genève (The Makropulos Affair).

Tomáš Netopil has appeared on concert stages with many renowned orchestras. Besides the Essen and the Czech Philharmonic, these include the Orchestre National de France, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Zurich’s Tonhalle-Orchester, the Orchestre de Paris, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in Torino, and the Prague Symphony Orchestra.

Tomáš Netopil studied violin at the P. J. Vejvanovský Conservatoire in Kroměříž and conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts. He also continued his studies at the Royal Academy in Stockholm under Professor Jorma Panula and at the Aspen Summer Music School in the USA, where he won the top prize of the American Conducting Academy in 2003 and 2004. He returns to Aspen regularly as a guest conductor. In 2002, he won the Sir George Solti Conducting Competition in Frankfurt am Main.

Tomáš Netopil has made highly acclaimed CDs under the Supraphon, OehmsClassics, Radioservis, Dynamics labels.

Source: HarrisonParrott

Slovak soprano Simona Šaturová is a native of Bratislava, where she graduated from the conservatoire. She further enhanced her vocal training in master classes with Ileana Cotrubas in Vienna and Margreet Honig in Amsterdam. Thanks to her outstanding technique, stylistic refinement, and cultivated expression she ranks among the most sought-after soloists of her voice type. Though her repertoire is quite broad, her specialty remains music of the eighteenth century. She appears in some of the foremost opera houses including the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, the Aalto-Musiktheater in Essen, the Frankfurt Opera, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, and L’Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and works with topflight soloists and conductors like Thomas Quasthoff, Manfred Honeck, Helmuth Rilling, and Philippe Herreweghe. She holds many awards, including a Thalia Prize for best operatic performance, the Charlotte and Walter Hamel Foundation Prize, and ‘Editor’s Choice 2009’ awarded by the prestigious magazine Gramophone.

Bass-baritone Adam Plachetka is presently one of the most successful Czech performers on the international musical scene. Afters studies at the Prague Conservatoire and Prague’s Academy of Performing Arts he launched his career with the National Theatre in Prague and the Prague State Opera. When only twenty-two he sang in the Salzburg Festival under the baton of Valery Gergiev, then two years later he debuted in the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. Since the 2010-11 season he has been a regular soloist with the Vienna State Opera, where he first attracted major attention as a substitute in the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. He performs in other prestigious opera houses as well, including L’Opéra de Nice, London’s Covent Garden, and Milan’s La Scala. In 2015 he debuted in New York’s Metropolitan Opera. He also sings concert repertoire and has recorded several solo albums. He appears in important musical centres of the world such as London’s Wigmore Hall and the Glyndebourne Festival, and works with renowned conductors like Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Muti, and Daniel Harding.

The Vienna Symphony Orchestra has long ranked among the most famous orchestras in the world. Founded in 1900 as the Vienna Concert Society, it has been playing under its present title since 1933. Already during its first years the orchestra gave a series of important world premieres including the Ninth Symphony of Anton Bruckner, Arnold Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder, and Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto for Left Hand. Over the course of its existence it has been led by many world-renowned conductors, among others Bruno Walter, Wilhelm Furtwängler, George Szell, Herbert von Karajan, Wolfgang Sawallisch, and Carlo Maria Giulini. Each season it gives about 150 performances; since 2006, when opera productions of the staggione type were renewed in the Theater an der Wien, this number has included performances in operas there. The orchestra also regularly embarks on concert tours abroad. It has an extensive discography, including recordings of music by Dvořák and Smetana under the baton of Karel Ančerl.