JAKUB
HRŮŠA
CONDUCTOR
Chief Conductor – Bamberg Symphony
Music Director Designate – Royal Opera,
Covent Garden (Music Director from 2025)
Principal Guest Conductor –
Czech Philharmonic
Principal Guest Conductor –
Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
![Jakub-Hrusa-by-Ian-Ehm-3765_rs-1-scaled 1080](https://imgartists.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Jakub-Hrusa-by-Ian-Ehm-3765_rs-1-scaled-1080.jpg)
JAKUB HRŮŠA
CONDUCTOR
Chief Conductor
Bamberg Symphony
Music Director Designate (Music Director from 2025)
Royal Opera, Covent Garden
Principal Guest Conductor
Czech Philharmonic
Principal Guest Conductor
Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
ABOUT
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 and of Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. He is the 2023 Opus Klassik Conductor of the Year.
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 Vanessa, The Cunning Little Vixen, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Carmen, The Turn of the Screw, Don Giovanni and La bohème, and served as Music Director of Glyndebourne On Tour for three years. In the 23/24 season, he conducts Janacek’s Jenufa for the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
His relationships with leading vocal and instrumental soloists have included collaborations in recent seasons with Behzod Abduraimov, Piotr Anderszewski, Leif Ove Andsnes, Emanuel Ax, Lisa Batiashvili, Joshua Bell, Yefim Bronfman, Rudolf Buchbinder, Renaud Capuçon, Gautier Capuçon, Isabelle Faust, Bernarda Fink, Julia Fischer, Sol Gabetta, Véronique Gens, Christian Gerhaher, Kirill Gerstein, Karen Gomyo, Hélène Grimaud, Augustin Hadelich, Hilary Hahn, Barbara Hannigan, Alina Ibragimova, Janine Jansen, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Leonidas Kavakos, Evgeny Kissin, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Lang Lang, Igor Levit, Karita Mattila, Albrecht Mayer, Anne Sofie Mutter, Stephanie d’Oustrac, Emmanuel Pahud, Beatrice Rana, Kian Soltani, Josef Špaček, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Antoine Tamestit, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Daniil Trifonov, Mitsuko Uchida, Klaus Florian Vogt, Lukáš Vondráček, Yuja Wang, Alisa Weilerstein, and Frank Peter Zimmermann.
As a recording artist, Jakub Hrusa has received numerous awards and nominations for his discography. Most recently with Bamberg Symphony, he received the ICMA Prize for Symphonic Music in both 2023 and 2022, for his recordings of Rott’s Symphony No. 1 and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4. He was awarded the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik for his recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, and in 2021 his recording of Martinů and Bartók violin concertos with Frank Peter Zimmermann was nominated for BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone awards, and his disc of the Dvořák Violin Concerto with the Bavarian Radio Symphony and Augustin Hadelich was nominated for a Grammy ® Award. His recordings of Dvořák and Martinů Piano Concertos with Ivo Kahánek and the Bamberg Symphony (Supraphon), and Vanessa from Glyndebourne (Opus Arte) both won BBC Music Magazine Awards in 2020. Other recent releases include Dvořák and Brahms Symphonies with Bamberg Symphony (Tudor), Suk’s Asrael Symphony with the Bavarian Radio Symphony (BR Klassik), and Dvořák’s Requiem and Te Deum with the Czech Philharmonic (Decca).
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, and an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. 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.
RECENT PRAISE
RONDO
MANUEL BRUG
“[Hrůša] lets the music speak, flow, and unfold … it represents the greatest art of all … a fine version of [Bruckner’s 9th Symphony] … Here, sound can really be enjoyed, in both total sincerity and emotionality.”
KLASIKA PLUS
PETR VEBER
“Jakub Hrůša is a prophet at home … He inspired and conducted a superbly arranged orchestra, so that the music of Martinu, Gershwin and Rachmaninov had an extraordinarily large portion of artfulness, beauty and energy.”
CONCERTI
PETER KRAUSE
“Passionate, enjoyable music-making…intoxicated the audience…technically flawless…With the “Symphonic Dances” by Sergei Rachmaninov, the orchestra and its Principal Guest Conductor came together completely…the Elbphilharmonie was in a frenzy.”
CHICAGO CLASSICAL REVIEW
“A season highlight…a refreshingly offbeat program played with intensity and panache…Hrůša received notably enthusiastic audience ovations…not only after the performances but upon his entrances, including vociferous cheers…a majestic account…the conductor didn’t put a foot wrong…a superb Straussian…a brilliant and winning performance.”
TAGESZEITUNG
“… a memorable interpretation … rousing … Hrusa’s astonishing omnipresence is visibly at home in Mahler’s orchestral verbiage, and he understands the Bohemian-Moravian dialect of his compatriot who set out to build a symphonic counter-world to the corrupt world.”
THE TIMES
“Jakub Hruša’s sensational conducting reinforces the vivacity and stylishness: the London Philharmonic sound brilliantly effervescent under his baton and a score too often taken for granted comes thrillingly alive. [On Glyndebourne’s ‘Carmen’]”
BACHTRACK
“Jakub Hrůša led a fiery, passionate account of Bizet’s score, dripping with drama. [On Glyndebourne’s ‘Carmen’]”
GRAMOPHONE
TIM ASHLEY
“[Hrůša] is wonderful in this work, superbly judging its mixture of lyricism and tension. Katya’s almost mystic childhood reminiscences of church sound ravishing, and a tremendous surge of eroticism takes your breath away when she and Boris finally meet in the garden scene. Elsewhere the terror and emotional violence are uncompromisingly realised, from the hammering monotones that close the first act to the visceral ferocity of the storm … this is musically overwhelming. You really do need to hear it.”
THE GUARDIAN
FIONA MADDOCKS
“After the interval, Dmitri Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, intense in every note … The Czech conductor shaped Shostakovich’s double meanings with clever dramaturgy, intense concentration and wonderfully shaped endings. Huge cheers.“
BACHTRACK
SUSAN STEMPLESKI
“Jakub Hrůša… and the Bamberg Symphony dazzle at Carnegie Hall…two stunning overtures by Wagner…From the very first notes to the last, it was evident that Hrůša, with his astute sense of structure, and his orchestra are a perfect fit…the conductor elicit[ed] a magical, transporting performance…[a] faultless blend of ensemble throughout…a glorious account of Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor…a rendering marked by great poetic feeling and dedication…Hrůša and the Bambergers delivered a majestic reading [of Wagner’s Overture to Tannhäuser], combining all the music’s power and airy delicacy as seamlessly as one could expect”
THE BOSTON MUSICAL INTELLIGENCER
SUSAN MIRON
“I came to hear a program of music I have long loved, but fell in love with the orchestra as well. What an array of excellent players! What an impassioned, intelligent conductor!… With this orchestra, [the Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin] left an indelible mark of deep beauty…playing full of luscious sound, drama and personality…Huge cheering ensued, along with a standing ovation, which set a pattern for the whole evening…sumptuous orchestral playing.. the audience did not want to leave despite the late hour…”
THE CLASSICAL REVIEW
JONATHAN BLUMHOFER
“A memorable evening… Throughout, the Bambergers’ playing demonstrated impeccable balances… refulgent tonal warmth, and bold dynamic contrasts… climacterics were full-bodied and weighty, yet miraculously lucid… this was music of real vitality and revelation… Hrůša ensured that…the ensemble’s blend was faultless… The Prelude to Act 1 from Lohengrin unfolded with a compelling sense of shape and a kaleidoscopic array of colors… Both [encores] were dispatched with an electrifying sense of ownership that, per the night’s remarkable simpatico between conductor, orchestra, and repertoire, was downright thrilling.”
THE ARTS FUSE
AARON KEEBAUGH
“Captivating flair… poise and sensitivity… With the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra [he] paints musical pictures infused with vivid details and flourishing strokes. Under his guidance, wind and string phrases rise out of the texture, coil in delicate shapes, and fade with breathless ease… what made this reading one of the finest of the season was the natural ease with which Hrůša drew out the music’s wistful lyricism and surging ecstasies. The opening statements blazed with a fiery panache… he shaped every melodic curve with a sculptor’s eye for detail”
NEWS
CONTACT
ALEXANDER MONSEY
GENERAL MANAGER
+44 (0) 20 7957 5851
EMAIL
JAN MASERA
DIRECTOR OF ARTIST ADMINISTRATION
+44 (0) 20 7957 5838
EMAIL