About
The National Theatre Orchestra is the oldest orchestra in the Czech Republic. Its roots go back to the period of the Provisional Theater (1862-1883), when the band of Karel Komzák became the orchestra of the Provisional Theater (Royal Provincial Czech Theater in Prague) in 1865.
The formation of the orchestra was influenced by the first bandleaders Jan Nepomuk Maýr, then Bedřich Smetana and Adolf Čech. The world-famous composer Antonín Dvořák also worked as a violist in the orchestra of the Provisional Theater, and the harpist was Karel Kovařovic, composer and head of the National Theater Opera from 1900-1920. For the needs of the larger building of the National Theater, definitively opened on November 18, 1883, the orchestra was expanded by additional players by the then director of the National Theater, František Adolf Šubert.
Important personalities at the head of the orchestra were opera leaders and conductors Karel Kavařovic, Otakar Ostrčil, Václav Talich, Jaroslav Vogel, Otakar Jeremiáš, Zdeněk Chalabala, Jaroslav Krombholc, František Vajnar and Zdeněk Košler. Richard Strauss, Karl Böhm, Charles Mackerras, Bohumil Gregor, Jiří Kout, Jiří Bělohlávek, John Fiore, Tomáš Hanus, Tomáš Netopil and Jakub Hrůša from the youngest generation of Czech conductors also collaborated with the orchestra.
The orchestra participated in the world premieres of operas by Bedřich Smetana (also symphonic poems My Homeland ), Antonín Dvořák (but also his cantatas Stabat Mater , Symphonies No. 4 and 8, overtures Carnival , In Nature and Othello , Slavonic Dancesad.), Zdeněk Fibich, Leoš Janáček ( Trips of Mr. Broučková ) and Bohuslav Martinů ( Juliette ) ad. The orchestra was the first outside Russia to perform Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's operas Eugene Onegin and the Queen of Spades, or for the first time outside Italy Giuseppe Verdi's operas Otello and Falstaff .
The orchestra performs in opera and ballet performances and concerts at the National Theater and the Estates Theater. During the tours of the National Theater, the orchestra performed not only at home (Prague Spring festivals, Smetana's Litomyšl, etc.), but also in Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands (Holland Festival), Scotland (Edinburgh Festival), Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Russia or Japan. The orchestra has participated in recordings of Czechoslovak and Czech Radio, Czechoslovak and Czech Television, record companies Esta, Supraphon and Deutsche Grammophon.