Czech conductor makes dream come true with appointment at London Philharmonia Orchestra

Czech conductor Jakub Hrůša has made a dream come true after being been appointed one of the two principal guest conductors at the London Philharmonia Orchestra. Hrůša, along with Santtu-Matias Rouvali from Finland, will take up their shared roles at the start of the upcoming season. They will be the first conductors to hold the post since the death of Sir Charles Mackerras in 2010.

Jakub Hrůša, photo: CTK

Born 35 years ago in Brno in the then Czechoslovakia, Jakub Hrůša studied conducting at the Czech Academy of Arts and quickly established himself as a promising young musician on the Czech musical scene. He has been performing regularly with the London Philharmonia, one of the most recorded orchestras in the world, since his debut there in 2011.

As of September 2017, Hrůša will become one of the orchestra’s principal guest conductors, which he describes as a dream come true:

“They are technically absolutely amazing, they are very quick. They can really achieve amazing things in a short time and without many limits. They work very hard, yet the mood is very nice, which I find a little miracle, to be honest.”

In terms of the programme, Jakub Hrůša says every artist needs to find balance between his intuition and personal inclination:

“In the ideal world, it is everything: as much variety as possible, reflection of my personal inclinations, including my background. So that is Czech Music, Slavic music, contemporary music, and that all in dialogue with Essa-Pekka Salonen, I want to learn myself and I want to share things which I had learned before the orchestra.”

Essa Pekka Salonen is the Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the London Philharmonia Orchestra.

At the moment, Jakub Hrůša is Chief Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Permanent Guest Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, Principal Guest Conductor of Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and a regular guest with many of the world greatest orchestras.

Jakub Hrůša, photo: archive of London Philharmonia

Between the years 2009 and 2015, he served as Music and Chief Conductor of the Prague Philharmonia and in 2015, he was the very first recipient of Sir Charles Mackerras award for promising artists under the age of 40. Jakub Hrůša has also released a number albums, including a live recording of Smetana’s Má Vlast from the Prague Spring Festival.

Jakub Hrůša’s next appearance with the Philharmonia Orchestra will be on April 6 at London’s Royal Festival Hall, in a programme that includes Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 and the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.