Juraj Valčuha is recognized for his effortless expressiveness and depth of musicianship. With sharp baton technique and natural stage presence and his impressive ease of his interpretations, he translates even the most complex scores into immersive experiences. His profound understanding of composer and score, taste and naturally elegant style make him one of the most sought-after conductors of his generation.
Since June 2022, he has been music director of the Houston Symphony. Since 2016, Valčuha has been music director of the Teatro di San Carlo, Naples, and first guest conductor of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. He was chief conductor of the RAI National Symphony in Turin from 2009 to 2016.
Born in Bratislava, Slovakia, Valčuha studied composition and conducting in Saint Petersburg and Paris. His international career began in 2004 on the podium of the Orchestre National de France, followed by debuts in the United Kingdom with the Philharmonia Orchestra, in Germany with the Munich Philharmonic and in the United States with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He has since conducted the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Munich Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Maggio Musicale in Florence, Filarmonica della Scala, NHK Symphony and Montréal Symphony Orchestra.
His engagements in 2024/2025 took him to the Houston, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Chicago, as well as to the Yomiuri Nippon Orchestra in Tokyo. On the European stage, he led Tristan & Isolde at the Bavarian State Opera and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Salomé at the Semperoper in Dresden, The Cunning little Vixen at the Paris Opéra Bastille. He led concerts with the RAI Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, the NDR Hamburg, SWR Stuttgart, the London Philharmonic and the Munich Philharmonic.
Valčuha champions the compositions of living composers and aims to program contemporary pieces in most of his concerts. He has conducted world premieres, including Christopher Rouse’s Supplica with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Steven Mackey’s violin concerto Beautiful Passing with Leila Josefowicz and the BBC Symphony in Manchester and Nico Muhly’s Bright Idea with the Houston Symphony. In 2005, Valčuha conducted, in the presence of the composer, Steve Reich’s Four Sections at the Melos-Ethos Festival in Bratislava. Other composers he has supported are Bryce Dessner, Andrew Norman, Luca Francesconi, James Macmillan and Steven Stucky, among others.
On the opera stage, Valčuha has conducted Madama Butterfly, Elisir d‘amore and The Marriage of Figaro at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Elektra and Turandot at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Faust and The Love for Three Oranges in Florence; Jenůfa, Peter Grimes, Salome, Tristan und Isolde and Ariadne auf Naxos in Bologna; Peter Grimes in Venice and Elektra, Carmen, Bluebeard’s Castle, Die Walküre, The Girl of the Golden West, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Katja Kabanova and Pique Dame in Naples.
Valčuha studied composition and conducting in Bratislava, then at the Conservatory in St. Petersburg (with Ilya Musin) and finally at the Conservatoire Supérieur de la Musique in Paris.
2024
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
