Carnegie Hall

Jakub Hrůša is chief conductor of the Bamberg Symphony and principal guest conductor of both the Czech Philharmonic and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. In the fall of 2025, he will take up the post of music director at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London.

Mr. Hrůša appears frequently as a guest conductor with the world’s greatest orchestras, including the Vienna, Munich, and New York philharmonics; Bavarian Radio, NHK, Chicago, and Boston symphony orchestras; Lucerne Festival and Royal Concertgebouw orchestras; Berliner Philharmoniker; Gewandhausorchester Leipzig; Mahler Chamber Orchestra; The Cleveland Orchestra; Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France; Staatskapelle Dresden; Orchestre de Paris; and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich.

He has led opera productions for the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Vienna State Opera; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Opéra national de Paris; Zurich Opera; and the Glyndebourne Festival. In 2022, he made his debut at the Salzburg Festival with a new production of Káťa Kabanová.

For his recordings with the Bamberg Symphony, Mr. Hrůša received International Classical Music Awards for Hans Rott’s First Symphony in 2023, and for Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony; the Jahrespreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik for Mahler’s Fourth Symphony; and a BBC Music Magazine Award for Dvořák and Martinů piano concertos with Ivo Kahánek. He also received Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine award nominations for Martinů violin concertos with Frank Peter Zimmermann, and a Grammy Award nomination for Dvořák’s Violin Concerto with Augustin Hadelich.

Mr. Hrůša studied at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where his teachers included Jiří Bělohlávek. He is president of the International Martinů Circle and the Dvořák Society. He was the inaugural recipient of the Sir Charles Mackerras Prize, in 2020 was awarded the Antonín Dvořák Prize by the Czech Republic’s Academy of Classical Music, and—with the Bamberg Symphony—the Bavarian State Prize for Music. In 2023, Mr. Hrůša was awarded honorary membership to the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Renaissance woman Hélène Grimaud is not just a deeply passionate and committed musical artist whose pianistic accomplishments play a central role in her life. Her multiple talents extend far beyond the instrument she plays with such poetic expression and technical control: Her deep dedication to her musical career is reflected in and amplified by the scope and depth of her environmental, literary, and artistic interests.

Ms. Grimaud has been an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2002. Her recordings have been critically acclaimed and awarded numerous accolades, among them the Cannes Classical Recording of the Year, Choc du Monde de la musique, Diapason d’Or, Grand Prix du Disque, Record Academy Prize (Tokyo), MIDEM Classical Award, and Echo Klassik Award.

Highlights of Ms. Grimaud’s schedule this season include performances of Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto with Camerata Salzburg at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Dresden Music Festival, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival (together with Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto), and Évian Festival. Following the success of their album Silent Songs, Ms. Grimaud and Konstantin Krimmel perform songs from Valentin Silvestrov’s cycle in Luxembourg and Dortmund in June.

Ms. Grimaud was born in 1969 in Aix-en-Provence and began her piano studies at the local conservatory. She was accepted into the Paris Conservatoire at just 13 and won first prize in piano performance a mere three years later. In 1987, she gave her well-received debut recital in Tokyo. That same year, renowned conductor Daniel Barenboim invited her to perform with the Orchestre de Paris: This marked the launch of Ms. Grimaud’s musical career, characterized ever since by concerts with most of the world’s major orchestras and many celebrated conductors.

It is through her thoughtful and tenderly expressive music making that Ms. Grimaud most deeply touches the emotions of audiences. Fortunately, they have been able to enjoy her concerts worldwide, thanks to the extensive tours she undertakes as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. Her prodigious contribution to and impact on the world of classical music were recognized by the French government when she was admitted into the Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur—France’s highest decoration—at the rank of Chevalier (Knight).

The Bamberg Symphony is the only world-renowned orchestra that is not based in a major metropolis. The orchestra is known worldwide for its characteristically dark, somber, and warm sound, sharing the musical echo of its hometown with the world since 1946. With almost 7,500 concerts in more than 500 cities and 64 countries, the ensemble has become a cultural ambassador for Bavaria and the whole of Germany. The Bamberg Symphony therefore describes its mission, in short, as “resonating worldwide.”

The circumstances of its founding make the Bamberg Symphony a mirror of German history: In 1946, ex-members of Prague’s German Philharmonic Orchestra met fellow musicians in Bamberg who also had to flee their homes because of the war and its aftermath. Starting with the Prague Orchestra, the orchestra’s lineage can be traced to the 18th century, reaching as far back as Gustav Mahler and even Mozart.

Bamberg Symphony revisits its historic roots more than 75 years after it was founded, with Czech-born Jakub Hrůša as its fifth chief conductor, leading the orchestra since September 2016. The ensemble also performs regularly with its honorary conductors for life: Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph Eschenbach, and Manfred Honeck. This year marks the orchestra’s ninth US tour, having made its debut at Carnegie Hall in 1954 with Joseph Keilberth.

In 2022, the Bamberg Symphony set a goal to act and travel in a more climate-friendly manner. For trips abroad, the orchestra is working to optimize travel routes and tour procedures. For this tour, the orchestra will offset most of the carbon dioxide emissions caused by its travels by financially supporting the environmental organization Running Tide, a global leader in ocean carbon removal. The Bamberg Symphony’s donation will support critical research and development in Iceland related to the safe, effective, and durable removal of carbon through the natural pathways of the ocean.