Czech Philharmonic, T. Netopil, B. Giltburg • Dvořák Prague Festival

The Moscow-born, Israeli pianist is lauded across the globe as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling musician.

He made his debut at the Dvořák’s Prague festival in 2019 and returned to the festival in 2021 as the curator of the chamber music series. He has performed with leading orchestras such as the Czech Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Santa Cecilia di Roma and WDR Symphony. He regularly gives recitals in the world’s most prestigious halls and has a long-standing collaboration with the Pavel Haas Quartet.

Giltburg has been exclusive to Naxos Records since 2015, releasing award-winning discs of a wide range of repertoire. In 2020 Giltburg recorded and filmed all 32 of Beethoven’s piano sonatas across the year, blogging about the process as it unfolded. The cycle was released on Naxos on all the major digital platforms and subsequently as a boxed set, with the complete Beethoven piano concerti to come (Royal Liverpool Philharmonic/Vasily Petrenko).

Giltburg engages audiences well beyond the concert hall. His blog “Classical music for all” is aimed at a non-specialist audience, and he complements it with articles in major publications and with regular streamings which attract a substantial audience.

Since the 2018/2019 season, Tomáš Netopil has been the Principal Guest Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, with which he regularly prepares concert programmes at the Rudolfinum and on tours. The 2022/2023 season was his tenth and final as General Music Director of the Aalto Theater and Philharmonic in Essen, Germany. From the 2025/2026 season, he will take up the post of chief conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra. 

In 2018, Tomáš Netopil created the International Summer Music Academy in Kroměříž, offering students exceptional artistic instruction and the chance to meet and work with major international musicians. In the summer of 2021, in association with the Dvořákova Praha Festival, the Academy established the Dvořák Prague Youth Philharmonic with musicians from conservatories and music academies, coached by principal players of the Czech Philharmonic.

As evidenced by his engagement in Essen, Tomáš Netopil is a sought-after opera conductor. From 2008 to 2012, he was the music director of the Opera of the National Theatre in Prague. Operatic highlights beyond Essen include the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (La clemenza di Tito, Rusalka, The Cunning Little Vixen, La Juive, The Bartered Bride, and Busoni’s Doktor Faust), the Vienna Staatsoper (his most recent successes include Idomeneo, Der Freischütz, and a new production of Leonore), and the Netherlands Opera (Jenůfa). His concert highlights of recent seasons have included the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich as well as engagements with the Orchestre de Paris, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Orchestra Sinfonica della Rai, the Orchestre National de Montpellier, and Concentus Musicus Wien.

Tomáš Netopil’s discography for Supraphon includes Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass (the first-ever recording of the original 1927 version), Dvořák’s complete cello works, Martinů’s Ariane and Double Concerto, and Smetana’s Má vlast with the Prague Symphony Orchestra. During his tenure in Essen, he has recorded Suk’s Asrael and Mahler’s Symphonies Nos. 6 and 9.

He studied violin and conducting in his native Czech Republic and at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm under the guidance of Professor Jorma Panula. In 2002 he won the inaugural Sir Georg Solti Conductors Competition at the Alte Oper Frankfurt. In his spare time, he likes to fly small planes.