Ostrava’s Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra Hires New Chief Conductor

Conductor Daniel Raiskin will assume the role as of the 2026/27 concert season

The Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra (JPO) in the Czech Republic has announced Daniel Raiskin as its new chief conductor, who will officially take up the position at the beginning of the 2026/27 season.

Additionally, Raiskin will serve as JPO’s chief guest conductor for the 2024/25 season and chief conductor designate for the orchestra’s 2025/26 season, before taking up the role the following year. 

Raiskin will succeed Vasilij Sinajský as chief conductor — Sinajský was appointed to the role in 2020 and was recently honored at his farewell concert, where he also conducted works by Dvořák.

First studying the viola, Raiskin was inspired to begin conducting after meeting conductor Lev Savich. His mentors later on included Mariss Jansons, Neeme Järvi, Milan Horvat, Woldemar Nelson, and Jorma Panula.

His has often appeared with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra Taiwan, Niederösterreichische Tonkünstlerorchester, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Osaka Philharmonic, Residentie Orkest, Sinfonia Varsovia, Stuttgarter Philharmonikern, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, and Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Previous roles included being chief conductor of the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie from 2005 to 2016, and of the Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra from 2008 until 2015; he was principal guest conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife from 2017.

In the 2020/21 season, Raiskin was appointed principal conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also been music director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra since 2018, and principal guest conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra from the 2017/18 season.

To join JPO full-time, he will be leaving his chief conductor role with the Slovak Philharmonic, though will remain there as a guest conductor; he will also remain as a main guest with the Belgrade Philharmonic. 

Raiskin will be conducting JPO this June with works by Pēteris Vaks (former JPO composer-in-residence), Schumann, Mendelssohn; in the upcoming season, he will lead a a program including the works of Sibelius, Ravel, and Tchaikovsky.

“It can be said that during the tenure of one chief conductor, the search for another is ongoing,” said JPO’s director Jan Žemla in an interview. “Personally, I had the conductor Mr. Raiskin in my sights, so to speak, since about 2017. I liked the way he works with the orchestra. He has a distinct personality. He always has a clear idea of ​​what he wants to achieve with the orchestra, but as a good psychologist and diplomat, he can listen and accommodate where he considers it beneficial.”

“Already during the first meeting with the Ostrava Orchestra I understood that it was an ambitious, curious, fearless, resilient and hardworking [organization],” Raiskin said in JPO’s Facebook post. “In the last 25 years, I have conducted a lot of orchestras all over the world, but the Janáček Philharmonic and its emotional power have been engraved in my memory, so I will be very happy to become chief conductor of this great orchestra.”