Jiří Rožeň
Conductor
© Ilona Sochorová
During the 2024/25 season Jiří Rožeň makes his debuts with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Philharmonie Zuidnederland and the Musikkollegium in Winterthur. He also returns to the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Interlaken Classics, the Orchestre National de Metz and Slovakian State Philharmonic. He started the season off with a new opera by Ana Sokolovic for Montreal Opera and conducts a revival of Nigel Lowery's production of Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre at the State Opera in Prague. Highlights during 2023/24 were his debut with Bergen National Opera with a new production of Janáček's Káťa Kabanová and his return to Göteborg Opera for a Gala Concert to celebrate Bedřich Smetana's 200th birthday. Rožeň has made a name for himself as an interpreter of contemporary music: he conducted an acclaimed triple-bill of Schulhoff's Flammen, Weill's Seven Deadly Sin and Schönberg's Erwartung at the State Opera in Prague, where he also conducted Rusalka, and, in the summer of 2022, the first ever performances of Nono's Prometeo in the Czech Republic. In recent seasons he made his debut with the Seattle Symphony and Danish Radio Symphony orchestras, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Hallé and MDR in Leipzig. He has conducted many of Belgian's leading orchestras, including the Orchestre National de Belgique and Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège. He works closely with Alban Gerhardt, Kian Soltani, Arabella Steinbacher, Kirill Gerstein, Vadim Gluzman and Lawrence Brownlee. A passionate champion of Czech music he thrills audiences with his interpretations of works by Smetana and Janáček, and less well known composers including Bohuslav Martinů and Josef Suk. Born in Prague in 1991, he studied conducting at conservatoires and universities in in Prague, Salzburg, Hamburg, Zürich and Glasgow. He reached the finals in Salzburg and London of the Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award and the Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition. A former conductors' assistant with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, he worked closely with Donald Runnicles and assisted at the BBC Proms and Edinburgh International Festival. His mentors include Garry Walker, Dennis Russell Davies, Ulrich Windfuhr and Johannes Schlaefli. He gained invaluable experience and inspiration in masterclasses, with orchestras including the Concertgebouworkest, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, held by Bernard Haitink, David Zinman and Peter Eötvös.