Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra

Uniquely among the Czech Republic's top orchestras, the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra is located not in Prague but in the northeastern Czech city of Ostrava. Its Czech name, in fact, is the Janáčkova Filharmonie Ostrava. Despite its regional origins, the orchestra has been somewhat oriented toward the West, especially since the fall of Communism; it has programmed much Western contemporary music and toured the U.S. multiple times. The group has a large recording catalog that includes Auber: Overtures, Vol. 7, on the Naxos label. The Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1954, with Otakar Parik as its first conductor. The orchestra was led from 2005 to 2014 by the Ukrainian American Theodore Kuchar, who opened additional doors for the group in the U.S. From 2014 to 2019, its chief conductor was Heiko Mathias Förster. He was succeeded by a pair of Russian-born conductors, Vassily Sinaisky (2020-2024) and the partly Canadian-based Daniel Raiskin (beginning his term in 2026). The orchestra quickly gained a reputation even west of the Iron Curtain, and it made its first foreign tour in 1958, going as far afield as Australia the following year; it was only the second Czech ensemble to tour abroad. In addition, the orchestra has toured Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, as well as most European countries. Even before the breakup of Czechoslovakia, the group recorded several albums for the U.S.-based Centaur Records, including an album of Dvořák's Slavonic Rhapsodies; Suite for a Large Orchestra in 1992. Unusually for an orchestra in the former East Bloc, the orchestra has benefited from corporate support from the ArcelorMittal steelmaking firm. The Philharmonic appears frequently in other Czech cities besides Ostrava, and leading conductors from the Czech Republic and beyond -- Jiří Bělohlávek, Václav Neumann, Charles Mackerras, and Helmuth Rilling -- have mounted the podium as guests. The Janáček Philharmonic has been especially notable for the size and variety of its recorded catalog. Since the early '90s, the group has recorded for various labels: the budget-line Brilliant in the Netherlands, Denon Classics in Japan, the contemporary-leaning Navona, Albany, and New World labels in the U.S., and Oehms, CPO, and Berlin Classics in Germany, among others. In 2018, the orchestra, under conductor Anthony Armoré, issued a recording of symphonic poems by composer Mark John McEncroe. In 2020 alone, the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra released eight albums, including one of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde on the Navona Records label. The group remained active throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, releasing both Czech and foreign material. In 2024, the Philharmonic issued Vítězslava Kaprálová: The Completed Orchestral Works on Germany's CPO label and Auber: Overtures, Vol. 7, on Naxos. ~ James Manheim, Rovi