Prague National Opera Names New Music Director & Chief Chorus Master
By Francisco Salazar(Images provided by State Opera in Prague)
The Prague National Opera has named a new Music Director and a Chief Chorus Master.
The company noted that as of the 2025-26 season, German conductor Hermann Bäumer will become the new Music Director of the State Opera in Prague. He will replace Andriy Yurkevych, who is leaving the post for personal reasons
“We are glad to have such a great conductor as Hermann Bäumer as our new music director. We have already worked with Bäumer, who has extensive experience in leading orchestras around the world, working on various projects, so we had the chance to appreciate his commitment and sensitive musical leadership,” said Per Boye Hansen, Artistic Director of the National Theatre Opera and the State Opera, per an official press release.
Bäumer has been Music Director of the Philharmonic State Orchestra in Mainz and General Music Director of the State Theater. He has also conducted at the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie in Bremen, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, the Bamberg Symphony, the Bavarian State Orchestra in Munich, the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Berlin, the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, the Hessian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the West German Radio Orchestra, among others. He has led productions of “Der Rosenkavalier” and “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk with the State Opera and is set to take on a new adaptation of Reimann’s “Lear” in 2025.
“Last year, I had the honor of getting to know the State Opera in Prague when conducting the production of ‘Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk,'” noted Bäumer, who has also been the Chief Conductor of the Mainz State Philharmonic Orchestra and General Music Director in Mainz since 2011-12. “This opera house in the centre of Europe is home to fantastic singers, a skilful orchestra with a warm sound, a great choir, and wonderful technical and organisational teams, led by Per Boye Hansen. I felt very much at home at Prague’s State Opera and didn’t have to think long about the offer to assume the post of music director. No art form can move people to the same degree as opera, and my wish is to comprehend and convey as faithfully as possible the composers’ ideas. I am really looking forward to the forthcoming collaboration.”
The company also noted that the new Chief Chorus Master of the State Opera from the 2025-26 season will be Zuzana Kadlčíková succeeding Adolf Melichar, who will remain at the State Opera as Chorus Master.
“We are also looking forward to working with Zuzana Kadlčíková, an experienced chorus master who is renowned for her cultivated approach to chorus, as well as exploring the music in depth,” added Hansen.
“I am simply delighted to have been offered the post of principal chorus master of the State Opera. I look forward to working for such a prestigious institution, to having the opportunity to further boost its artistic qualities,” Kadlčíková, who has worked as chorus leader and conductor at the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava since 2021, said.
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