Principal Guest Conductor Jakub Hrůša led the Czech Philharmonic, Prague Philharmonic Choir and soloists soprano Kateřina Kněžíková and bass-baritone Adam Plachetka at the inauguration of the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel. The ceremony was held at St Vitus Cathedral on 9 March and broadcast on Czech Television and screens throughout Hradčany Square. The celebration included performances of the national anthem and three symbolic works: Suk’s Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale Saint Wenceslas, a movement from Antonín Dvořák’s oratorio Saint Ludmila and the Te Deum by the same composer.

Hrůša said, “It gives me immense pleasure to be able to celebrate the inauguration of the new Czech President in such a magnificent musical way, with compositions that perfectly express what a significant secular and spiritual event the inauguration is.”

Born in the Czech Republic, Jakub Hrůša is Chief Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony, Music Director Designate of The Royal Opera, Covent Garden (Music Director from 2025), Principal Guest Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He was also formerly Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra.

He is a frequent guest with many of the world’s greatest orchestras, enjoying close relationships and performing regularly with the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, NHK Symphony and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra – and in the US with The Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Boston Symphony Orchestra.

As a conductor of opera, he has led productions for the Salzburg Festival (Kát’a Kabanová with the Vienna Philharmonic), Vienna State Opera (The Makropulos Case), Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Carmen and Lohengrin), Opéra National de Paris (Rusalka), and Zurich Opera (The Makropulos Case). He has also been a regular guest with Glyndebourne Festival, conducting VanessaThe Cunning Little VixenA Midsummer Night’s Dream, CarmenThe Turn of the ScrewDon Giovanni and La bohème, and served as Music Director of Glyndebourne On Tour for three years.

Jakub Hrůša studied conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where his teachers included Jiří Bělohlávek. He is currently President of the International Martinů Circle and The Dvořák Society. He was the inaugural recipient of the Sir Charles Mackerras Prize, and in 2020 was awarded both the Antonín Dvořák Prize by the Czech Republic’s Academy of Classical Music, and – together with Bamberg Symphony – the Bavarian State Prize for Music.

Click to watch the Inauguration of Czech Republic President Petr Pavel

Photo: Marian Lenhard