Prague Symphony Orchestra Names New Chief Conductor

Czech conductor Tomáš Netopil will step into the role at the opening of the 2025/26 season

Czech conductor Tomáš Netopil will succeed another Tomáš Brauner at the Prague Symphony Orchestra (PSO).

Netopil is presently a Principal Guest Conductor at the Czech Philharmonic and will relinquish this role to take up his position in Prague. Until last season, he was also the general music director of the Aalto Musiktheater and Philharmonie Essen.

He studied violin and conducting in the Czech Republic, as well as at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm under the guidance of Jorma Panula. In 2002, he won the first Sir Georg Solti Conducting Competition at the Alte Oper Frankfurt.

"Prague has always been an enormously rich source of culture and music for me," Netopil said. "The Prague Symphony Orchestra, which continues to make an outstanding contribution towards this, is amongst the best Prague has to offer."

"It is a great honor and pleasure for me that our artistic paths shall cross and that together we will be able to develop the rich potential of this wonderful orchestra and bring joy to audiences in Prague as well as the rest of the Czech Republic and abroad. Our journey together represents a new and exciting artistic chapter for me."

"I have been overjoyed with the direction of the Prague Symphony Orchestra over the past years and it has been an honor for me to help shape this direction with all my colleagues both on stage and behind the scenes," said Daniel Sobotka, the orchestra's director. "I believe that it makes sense for a Czech orchestra, not to mention an orchestra which is an ambassador for the city of Prague, to also have a Czech as its Chief Conductor and Music Director. We warmly welcome Tomáš Netopil to the Prague Symphony Orchestra."