Czech native Jakub Hrůša happy to oblige a demand for works of his homeland

When Jakub Hrůša takes the podium with orchestras around the world, the high-profile conductor often leads works by composers from his homeland, the Czech Republic. But such programming is not the result of his belief in a mission to do so.

“It’s not like I’m walking around the world, pushing for Czech repertoire,” he said. “It’s rather the other way around, that presenters everywhere want me to do it. They probably think — this is part of the repertoire, we want to do it, we want to represent it, and this is an opportunity.”

Hrůša is happy to oblige. He believes deeply in the quality of the works of celebrated Czech composers such as Antonín Dvořák, Bohuslav Martinů and Josef Suk, and this music runs deep in his blood. “It’s something I love because it’s the background where I come from,” he said. “It’s also kind of paying a debt to the culture which helped me to develop into who I am.”

It’s probably not surprising then that Czech works by Leos Janáček and Bedřich Smetana will be featured during the two sets of concerts he will lead March 12-14 and April 9-12, when returns for what has become an annual reunion with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

“We have developed the most amazing and natural relationship, which as anyone can see is not just a matter of craftsmanship, technical approach or something like that,“ Hrůša said. ”It’s a complex thing. It’s music-making together with human understanding. Especially in the last years, the rehearsals and concerts I’ve been privileged to give with the Chicago Symphony have been mutually extremely rewarding.”

Indeed, the conductor believes there have been several times when he and the orchestra have touched what he called the “musical heavens.” Hrůša pointed to a set of concerts in March 2025 with performances of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11 that he terms were “just as remarkable as one can hope for.”

Writing in the Chicago Classical Review, critic Lawrence A. Johnson agreed. “The remarkable performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11 provided not just a highlight of this season, but one of the finest CSO nights of recent years,” he wrote.

Such a response helps explain why Hrůša is one of the hottest conductors in the world right now. Musical America named him its 2026 Artist of the Year, and he received the same honor at the 2026 International Classical Music Awards, which are chosen by music critics across Europe.

Also significantly boosting his visibility is his new post, which he began in the fall, as music director of London’s Royal Opera, one of the world’s most prestigious opera companies. In that new role, he is leading works this season such as Janáček’s The Makropulos Case and Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes.

“It is, indeed, a big change, because it’s a huge portion of my artistic activity devoted to this genre that was always present in my life — that is, opera — but not exactly in that amount,“ he said. ”This is a new kind of challenge and responsibility that I’m very grateful for.”

Hrůša was not actively seeking an operatic position, but he had worked with the Royal Opera several times and had come to appreciate the “world-class quality” of its productions and the dedication, sense of detail and “humanity” exhibited by its artists and staff. “It just charmed me to the extent that I realized I had maybe suppressed my inner wishes to do opera because I didn’t see the conditions elsewhere to be as great,” he said. 

It also helps that Hrůša and his family live in London, so instead of flying halfway around the world, he can just zip across town for rehearsals and performances.

Another major career transition was announced in June. The Czech Philharmonic named him its next chief conductor and music director, starting in September 2028. He will replace Semyon Bychkov, who announced last spring that he would step down after completing his 10th season with the orchestra.

Hrůša has had what he called a “constant and very close” relationship with the Czech Philharmonic for a few decades. “I see this as the most natural outcome of our getting closer and closer as musicians and people,” he said. The orchestra, which regularly travels internationally, including visits to the United States, is in what the conductor called the “best shape I ever remember them to be,” thanks to Bychkov’s leadership. “I’m very happy,” he said.

It means a great deal to him, Hrůša said, that unlike most major orchestras which recruit members from around the world, the Czech Philharmonic is among the few that has retained a strong national identity, with at least 95 percent of its musicians from its home country. While it plays music from all over the world, Czech music remains central. “Their home is Prague, the Czech Republic and Central Europe,” he said. “That’s where their roots are. And that repertoire is especially dear to the orchestra and to the audiences with the orchestra.”

Hrůša’s growing international stature and his closeness with the CSO musicians go far in explaining why he is not just a regular guest conductor, but is one of the rare visiting maestros often asked to lead two weeks of concerts a season with the ensemble. And that, as noted, is the case in 2025-26.

Double sets of concerts allow him to present a wider variety of repertoire, and in the case of this year’s engagement, it provides him with the opportunity to lead programs very different in mood and feel. “One program is very heavy, if you want, and very serious,” he said. “And the other is much lighter and offers a contrast, and that’s really lovely,” he said.

The April 9-12 program deals with the transcendent subject of death, one that has consumed composers and other creators for centuries. “We have this amazing music dedicated to this topic,” Hrůša said. “The variety in our program in this way is stunning. It’s one of the most fascinating programs that I’ve had for a long time.”

The line-up opens with Janáček’s overture to his 1928 opera, From the House of the Dead, and continues with Sergei Rachmaninov’s The Isle of the Dead, works that might be discoveries for some listeners. But the second half features two frequently heard works: Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs and the Prelude and Liebestod (Love-Death) from Richard Wagner’s celebrated 1857-59 opera Tristan and Isolde.

The former are literally Strauss’ four last songs (with one exception), written a year before his death in 1949, and the latter pairing consists of two excerpts — the first-act prelude and Isolde’s final aria, Liebestod — from the third act. Serving as soloist is soprano Corinne Winters, with whom Hrůša has worked extensively.

A lighter, more upbeat program will be offered during the March 12-14 concerts. Hrůša has inverted the order of the selections so that Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, with the great Norwegian pianist, Leif Ove Andsnes, as soloist, comes first. Following an intermission, the concert will continue with Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 1 (Spring) and selections from Smetana’s comic opera The Bartered Bride. “That’s what I wanted, to end on a light note,“ Hrůša said. ”Especially since we end the other program with Tristan and Isolde on quite a serious one.”