Beginning in the 2023-24 season, Petr Popelka will lead the Vienna Symphony as its chief conductor designate in a new production of Weinberger’s Schwanda the Bagpiper at the Theater an der Wien, followed by concerts in Vienna and two tours in Europe throughout the season.
He also makes several debuts this season including the Zurich Opera House conducting Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Gewandhausorchester, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre National de France, as well as Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. In addition, Popelka returns to the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.
Previous debuts have taken him to the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, SWR Symphony Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Frankfurt Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, to name a few. He also led the annual ORF-TV concert “Spring in Vienna” and the ZDF Advent concert in Dresden. His new productions of Shostakovich’s opera The Nose at the Semperoper and Strauss’ Elektra at the Oslo Opera were acclaimed by press and audiences alike.
In the 2019-20 season, Popelka became NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra’s very first conductor fellow. He received his music education both in his hometown of Prague, as well as in Freiburg. Between 2010 and 2019, he was deputy principal double bass of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden. Aside from conducting, composition plays an important role in his artistic endeavors.
2023-24
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