Czech Philharmonic • Rusalka

The South Korean bass Jongmin Park, a laureate of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition and of the Tchaikovsky Competition, graduated from the Korea National University of Arts, then he became a member of the Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan. From 2010 to 2013 he was an ensemble member with the Hamburg State Opera, then for seven years with the Vienna State Opera. During those engagements, he learned many title roles in repertoire ranging from Mozart to Wagner and Puccini, which he has also sung, for example, at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, Madrid’s Teatro Real, and the festivals in Bayreuth and Salzburg. In addition, he makes guest appearances at New York’s Metropolitan Opera and London’s Covent Garden. The concert repertoire has taken him to Europe (Vienna’s Musikverein, London’s Wigmore Hall, and Berlin’s Philharmonie) and even as far as Suntory Hall in Tokyo, for example. He has already collaborated with the Czech Philharmonic on a recording of Dvořák’s Stabat Mater made in 2016 under the baton of Jiří Bělohlávek.

A winner of the National Theatre’s Prize for Artists up to Age 35, Jiří Brückler is admired for his “unique voice, in which we hear lyrical warmth with a shade of melancholy and steely power with dramatic potential”. He studied singing at the Prague Conservatoire under the guidance of Jiří Kotouč and at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under Roman Janál. He is a winner of the Antonín Dvořák International Singing Competition in Karlovy Vary in the Junior Category. 

At the Opera of the National Theatre and the State Opera, where he has been under engagement since 2012, he has performed key roles in operas ranging from Mozart to Britten. For the role of Rodrigo in Verdi’s Don Carlo, he was nominated for the 2013 Thalia Award. He had already been nominated for that prestigious honour four years earlier for the role of Silvio in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci as a guest at the F. X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec; later, he sang that role at the Český Krumlov International Music Festival alongside José Cura. He is a regular guest at the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen, the National Theatre in Brno, and the Bulgarian Opera in Sofia. He also appears in the concert repertoire, collaborating with the leading Czech orchestras.

Until recently, young Czech baritone Jiří Rajniš Jr. performed mainly abroad, where he attracted attention primarily through his guest appearances at the famous La Scala in Milan. He began his international career while still a student: after graduating from the music and drama department of the Prague Conservatory, he went to Los Angeles to study at the University of California. “There I learned an important principle: ‘Everything is up to you, no one will help you!’ Studying and living in America, auditioning for local productions, coaching at the MET, hundreds of e-mails and hours spent on planes and in cars looking for a job force you to think very independently,” says Rajniš, reflecting on what his sojourn in America gave him. He also mentions another important principle: “You must not be afraid. Fear is the enemy, and no one can ever take away what you know how to do!”

In addition to studying singing, he considers training in acting and drama an integral part of his profession as an opera singer. “When I was a child, I fell in love with theater as a whole. Not only was I inspired by my parents being opera singers, but I was also fascinated by the beautiful scenery of opera productions. That is no longer the case today, but I actually spent my childhood drawing costume and set designs,” recalls Rajniš, who took to the theater and opera stage at a very early age. In 2013, when he was just 21 years old, the Opernglass magazine called him “the youngest Czech Don Giovanni abroad” after his participation in the Sommer Oper Bamberg. From 2017 to 2019, he was a member of the Junge Ensamble of the Semperoper Dresden. His biggest career breakthrough to date came with his debut at La Scala in Milan in the 2022/2023 season, when he played the role of the First Nazarene in Richard Strauss’s opera Salome.

“If you have a ‘stamp’ from a venue like La Scala on your CV, and you also have strong foreign management, great materials, and high-quality recordings, it is much easier to attract the attention of other theater directors,” comments the baritone, who is currently receiving numerous offers from European theaters. He also appeared at La Scala as the Forester in Rusalka (the first-ever production at this opera house) and will appear in Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District in the 2025/2026 season. He shone as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte in Italian and French theaters (Modena, Pisa, Metz); he has also performed in Nancy, Zurich, and Palermo, among other places. He also collaborates with Slovak and Czech theaters and is a regular guest at the National Theater and the State Opera in Prague. He has performed over 30 roles in the international and Czech opera repertoire, both lyrical and dramatic.

In addition to his opera work, he has also given numerous concert performances, for example with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and has made several guest appearances in concert halls in Berlin, Ingolstadt, Munich, and Vienna. He has shared the stage with Christian Thielemann, Allan Gilbert, and John Fiore, among others. He also performs with his newly formed Napolitan Quartet throughout the Czech Republic, presenting Neapolitan songs in a special modern stylization. In 2022, he released his debut CD Spanish Songs together with soprano Tatiana Hajzušová and guitarist Rastislav Sumega.

The Prague Philharmonic Choir, founded in 1935 by its choirmaster Jan Kühn, is the oldest professional choir of mixed voices in the Czech Republic. Lukáš Vasilek serves as chief choirmaster and artistic director, with Lukáš Kozubík as associate choirmaster. The choir has won particular acclaim for its interpretations of the oratorio and cantata repertoire, which it performs with the worldʼs leading orchestras. In this country, it collaborates regularly with the Czech Philharmonic and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. As choir-in-residence at Austriaʼs Bregenz Festival, it is also active in opera. It regularly presents its own choral concerts, with programmes devoted primarily to demanding and rarely performed works from the choral repertoire, while also engaging in a wide range of educational projects. For students of vocal performance, the choir organises the Prague Philharmonic Choir Academy in honour of Soňa Červená, while younger children are served by a series of educational concerts. The choir received a Classic Prague Award in 2018 and the Antonín Dvořák Prize in 2022.

Lukáš Vasilek studied conducting and musicology. Since 2007, he has been the chief choirmaster of the Prague Philharmonic Choir (PPC). Most of his artistic work with them involves rehearsing and performing a cappella repertoire and preparing them to perform in large-scale cantatas, oratorios, and operatic projects in collaboration with world-famous conductors and orchestras (Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, etc.).

In addition to leading the PPC, he is active in a wide range of artistic projects, most notably in collaboration with the vocal ensemble Martinů Voices, which he founded in 2010. As a conductor and choirmaster, he appears on numerous recordings for major international labels, including Decca Classics and Supraphon. In recent years, he has focused systematically on recording the choral music of Bohuslav Martinů. His recordings have received extraordinary worldwie acclaim and have earned awards from prestigious publications such as Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, and Diapason.

In 2018 Bychkovʼs tenure as Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Czech Philharmonic was initiated with concerts in Prague, London, New York, and Washington celebrating the 100th anniversary of Czechoslovak independence. 2019 marked the culmination of The Tchaikovsky Project: concerts, residencies and recordings of Tchaikovskyʼs symphonies. For 2024ʼs Year of Czech Music, in addition to recordings of Smetanaʼs Má vlast – voted by BBC Music Magazine as Orchestral Recording of the Year 2025 – and Dvořákʼs Symphonies 7, 8 and 9, Czech music was at the centre of extensive European tours as well as concerts in the US, including three concerts at Carnegie Hall. Earlier this season, Bychkov toured with the Orchestra to Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Austria, Italy, Germany and Luxembourg. In April 2026, PENTATONE released the box set of Mahler symphonies recorded with the Orchestra since 2018.

In the 2026/2027 season, Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic return to repertoire that has accompanied him since the beginning of his career. Alongside Czech music, he will focus above all on the works of Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Modest Mussorgsky. The programmes of the 131st season thus connect the music of his native country with the Czech tradition at the centre of his work in Prague.

He is a frequent guest with the leading international orchestras and opera companies and has recorded extensively including with the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio, Concertgebouworkest, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic and Orchestre de Paris. Benchmark recordings with WDR Cologne include the four Brahms Symphonies, in addition to works by Strauss, Mahler, Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff, Verdi, Glanert and Höller. His 1992 recording of Tchaikovskyʼs Eugene Onegin was the recommended recording for BBC Radio 3ʼs Building a Library (2020); Wagnerʼs Lohengrin was BBC Music Magazineʼs Record of the Year (2010); and Schmidtʼs Symphony No. 2 with the Vienna Philharmonic was BBC Music Magazineʼs Record of the Month (2018).

In common with the Czech Philharmonic, Bychkov has one foot firmly in the culture of the East and the other in the West. Born in St Petersburg in 1952, he emigrated to the United States in 1975 and is now based in Europe. In 1989 Bychkov returned to the former Soviet Union as Principal Guest Conductor of the St Petersburg Philharmonic and, the same year, was named Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris. In 1997, he was appointed Chief Conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, and in 1998, Chief Conductor of the Dresden Semperoper. In summer 2025, Bychkov returned to Bayreuth to conduct Wagnerʼs Tristan und Isolde, and conducted the premiere of a new production of Tchaikovskyʼs Eugene Onegin at the Paris Opera in January 2026. In the 2026/2027 season he also returns to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London.

Bychkov was named ‘Conductor of the Yearʼ by the International Opera Awards (2015) and, by Musical America (2022). He holds honorary titles with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Academy of Music. From 1 August 2026, Bychkov is Music Director Designate of the Paris Opera, assuming the title of Music Director in 2028.