Petr Popelka will become Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra starting with the 2022/2023 season. The Czech conductor, whose career is developing rapidly, will take up the position in addition to his Chief Conductor post with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra in Oslo. Apart from subscription concerts at the Rudolfinum and regular studio recordings, Petr Popelka will also lead the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra on international tours.

Petr Popelka: “It is a great pleasure and honour for me to take over the position of Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of this outstanding orchestra. For me, it is also a return to the very orchestra of my hometown, in which I began my professional musical career at the age of 19 as a double bass player. In addition to the large symphonic repertoire, I will lay a focus on works from the 20th and 21st centuries.“

Next week Petr Popelka will make his debut with the Wiener Symphoniker with three concerts at the Wiener Konzerthaus. In addition to Beethoven’s 1st Piano Concerto (soloist: Piotr Anderszewski), the programme includes the “Four Symphonic Interludes from Intermezzo” by Richard Strauss.

In the 2021/2022 season, he will work with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, among others. New opera productions will take him to Dresden’s Semperoper and Prague’s National Theatre.