Biography

The National Theatre Prague Chamber Orchestra (NTPCO) was founded in 1988 as an initiative of the leading members of the Orchestra of the National Theatre Opera. They did so with the intention to take advantage of their experience of collaborating with prominent conductors from the Czech Republic and abroad in the area of operatic repertoire, both chamber and symphonic.
The orchestra comprises mainly concertmasters and leaders of instrument sections from the Orchestra of National Theatre Opera plus several eminent players from the State Opera Orchestra and the Prague Symphonic (FOK).
The beginnings of the orchestra are inseparable from the name of an outstanding personality of Czech musical culture, the conductor Zdeněk Košler. It was he who decided about the basic size and cast of the orchestra (33 - 36 players), which was chosen in a way to enable the ensemble to perform pieces from the interface of chamber and symphonic music. Košler was also the creator of the orchestra‘s dramaturgy and artistic focus as well as the one who imprinted a characteristic style of interpretation on the ensemble. That is why the orchestra became a steady part of Prague and Czech musical scene short after its establishment. Besides guest performances in Czech and Slovak cities and towns and collaboration with the Czech Broadcasting Corporation, the orchestra received acclaim for their original series of subscription concerts, presenting projects such as that of complete performance of Schubert‘s symphonies in 1992 – 1995, which have since then become part of their core repertoire.
Since the beginning of its existence, the orchestra has built up the tradition of its own concerts while at the same time participating in operatic productions both at home and abroad. They appeared on numerous stages in Germany (Hamburg, Schwetzingen, Dresden, Karlsruhe, Ulm, Oldenburg, Tübingen Wilhelmshaven, Esslingen), Italy (Palermo), Spain (concerts in Santiago della Compostela, Leon, Burgos etc.) Austria, France, Japan (Tokyo) and Israel. In the season 2005/2006, the orchestra toured Germany with the excellent American violinist Alyssa Park and also Switzerland with Dvořák‘s Cello concerto (Wen-Sinn Yang) and Requiem cloister in Einsiedeln) In 2007, the orchestra appeared at the many important festivals especially in Germany (Brandenburgische Sommerkonzerte, Hohenloher Kultursommer, Choriner Musiksommer) and toured Luxembourg and Germany.
For the 50th anniversary of the death of the Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959) in the year 2009 the orchestra will perform together with the piano trio “Concertino” (Kahánek, Jamník, Fišer). Along with two compositions by Martinu the orchestra will also perform works of W.A. Mozart and Franze Schubert.
Other future plans include touring the USA, France, Benelux und Germany.
Besides Zdeněk Košler, conductors leading the orchestra have included personalities such as Libor Pešek, Miroslav Válek, Oliver Dohnanyi, Bystrik Režucha, Petr Vronský, František Drs, etc.. Among soloists playing with the orchestra were Shizuka Ishikawa, Ivan Klánský, Eva Urbanová, Gabriela Demeterová, Bruno Weinmeister or Natalie Melnik, Eva Lind, Alyssa Park etc.

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