Acclaimed for his scintillating, authentic, and inclusive approach to conducting, Petr Popelka is the General Music Director designate of the Bayerische Staatsoper starting from the 2029–30 season. Since the 2024–25 season, he has served as the chief conductor at the Wiener Symphoniker.
In addition to concerts and tours with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, highlights of the 2026–27 season include his debuts with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Orchestre National de France, as well as at the Salzburg Festival. He will also return to the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Gewandhaus Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Danish National Symphony Orchestra. He will once again be a guest at the Zurich Opera House with Verdi’s Don Carlo.
Previous debuts have taken him to the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and NHK Symphony Orchestra, among others. In previous seasons, he appeared in prestigious televised gala concerts, including the Czech Philharmonic’s Velvet Revolution concert, the opening of the Prague Spring Festival, and the Nobel Prize Concert with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.
As a celebrated opera conductor, he made guest appearances at the Bayerische Staatsoper (Káťa Kabanová and Rusalka), Staatsoper Unter den Linden (Tosca), Deutsche Oper Berlin (Tristan und Isolde), Semperoper Dresden (Die Nase), Theater an der Wien (Schwanda and Die Fledermaus), Zurich Opera House (Don Giovanni), Norwegian Opera in Oslo (Elektra), and National Theatre in Prague (Rusalka, Carmen, and Le nozze di Figaro).
Petr Popelka began his conducting career during the 2019–20 season after serving as deputy principal double bassist at the Staatskapelle Dresden from 2010 to 2019. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed chief conductor at the Norwegian Radio Orchestra in Oslo (2020–23) and subsequently led the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra (2022–26). Also an active composer, he received his musical training in his hometown of Prague and in Freiburg.
August 2026
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.
