Jiří Bělohlávek was born in Prague in 1946. At the age of four, Bělohlávek joined a children’s choir, and was soon taking piano lessons. He went on to learn the cello with Czech cellist Karel Pravoslav Sádlo before continuing his studies at the Prague Conservatory and at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. It was during these years that Bělohlávek began conducting in earnest, receiving instruction from Robert Brock, Alois Klíma, Bohumír Liška and Josef Veselka.
In 1968, the legendary Rumanian conductor Sergiu Celibidache invited Bělohlávek to become his assistant, a collaboration which culminated in Bělohlávek winning the Czech Young Conductor’s Competition in 1970, as well as reaching the final of the prestigious Herbert von Karajan Conducting Competition in 1971. It was in 1973 that Bělohlávek began conducting the Czech Philharmonic to great acclaim.

 

Bělohlávek was appointed conductor of the Brno State Philharmonic Orchestra in 1972, a position he held until 1978. He then became chief conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra, a partnership which lasted until 1989. During these years, he worked closely with Václav Neumann (chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic between 1968 and 1990), who brought him to Berlin’s Komische Oper in 1979, where Bělohlávek debuted with Smetana’s The Secret.

A decade later, Bělohlávek succeeded Václav Neumann as chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, and returned to the post in 2012, to worldwide acclaim. In addition to his work with the Czech Philharmonic, Bělohlávek has regularly conducted, among others, the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, New York Philharmonic, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, appearing at festivals including those in Berlin, Edinburgh, Lucerne, Montreaux, Salzburg and Tanglewood.

In 1994, Bělohlávek founded the Prague Philharmonia, whom he directed until 2005, when he became its conductor laureate; then in 1995, he became the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s guest conductor, later becoming its chief conductor in 2006. Today, Bělohlávek is conductor laureate of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and continues to appear with the orchestra in London each season following their award-winning recordings of Czech works. From 2012, Bělohlávek has also been principal guest conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

Bělohlávek continues his outstanding work in the world of opera, with acclaimed productions at Berlin, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Glyndebourne, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and many more. Recent highlights include new productions of Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades at the Zürich Opera House during April and May 2014, and of Dvorak’s Rusalka at the Vienna State Opera in January 2013. He will conduct Janáček’s Jenůfa at the San Francisco Opera in 2016.

Bělohlávek was appointed professor at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in 1997, and was director of the Department of Conducting there until 2009.

As chairman of the Prague Spring International Music Festival, Bělohlávek has consistently championed the music of Czech composers. His special affinity with the music of Bohuslav Martinů has been instrumental in bringing that master to the world’s attention, and Bělohlávek has also taken the more rarely-performed works of Dvořák, Janáček, Smetana and Suk to new audiences.

In May 2012, Bělohlávek was awarded the title commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) “for services to music” by the Queen Elizabeth II. In the Czech Republic, he was awarded the First Grade Medal of Merit for service to the Republic.

Bělohlávek has an extensive discography, and is the first conductor since Herbert von Karajan to receive the Gramophone Award for Orchestral Recording two years running. Furthermore, as the Naxos label noted:

“His most outstanding recordings are those in which he leads the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, where the high caliber of orchestral execution and Bělohlávek’s deep musicianship result in performances of exceptional quality.”

The Czech Philharmonic and Bělohlávek recently released a much-praised new recording on Decca of the complete symphonies and concertos of Dvořák.