Russian National Orchestra,
Jakub Hrůša, Simon Trpčeski

The Russian National Orchestra was founded in 1990 by pianist and conductor Mikhail Pletnev. Of its debut at the BBC Proms in London, the Evening Standard wrote, “They played with such captivating beauty that the audience gave an involuntary sigh of pleasure.” The RNO has been described as “a living symbol of the best in Russian art” (Miami Herald) and “as close to perfect as one could hope for” (Trinity Mirror).

Maintaining an active international schedule, the RNO appears in the music capitals of Europe, Asia and the Americas, is a frequent guest at festivals such as Edinburgh, the BBC Proms and Festival Napa Valley, and presents the RNO Grand Festival each September to open the Moscow season. Guest artists performing with the RNO on tour include conductors Vladimir Jurowski, Nicola Luisotti, Antonio Pappano, Alan Gilbert and Carlo Ponti, and soloists Martha Argerich, Yefim Bronfman, Lang Lang, Pinchas Zukerman, Sir James Galway and Joshua Bell, among many others.

RNO concerts are often aired on National Public Radio, the European Broadcasting Union, and Russia’s Kultura channel. Their discography, launched with a highly praised 1991 recording of Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique, now numbers more than 80 critically acclaimed recordings. Notable releases include the complete Beethoven symphonies and piano concertos on Deutsche Grammophon, Tchaikovsky’s six symphonies for Pentatone, and the RNO Shostakovich project, also on Pentatone, cited as “the most exciting cycle of the Shostakovich symphonies to be put down on disc, and easily the best recorded” (SACD.net).

Their recording of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Beintus’ Wolf Tracks, conducted by Kent Nagano and narrated by Sophia Loren, Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev, received a 2004 Grammy Award, making the RNO the first Russian orchestra to win the recording industry’s highest honor. Their recording of Shostakovich Symphony No. 7, conducted by Paavo Järvi, was awarded the Diapason d’Or de l’Année 2015 as the year’s best symphonic album, and was nominated for a 2016 Grammy Award.

Since October 2022, Alexander Rudin has been Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra.

Born in the Czech Republic in 1981 and named by Gramophone magazine in 2011 as one of  ten young conductors “on the verge of greatness”, Jakub is Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Prague Philharmonia, Music Director of Glyndebourne on Tour, and Principal Guest Conductor of Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.

In recent seasons Jakub Hrůša has appeared with many of Europe's leading orchestras, including the Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, SWR Symphony Stuttgart, WDR Symphony Cologne, NDR Symphony Hamburg, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic and Royal Flemish Philharmonic. In 2010, with the Prague Philharmonia, he become the youngest conductor since 1949 to lead the opening concert of the Prague Spring Festival.

He made his US debut in 2009 and has since appeared with Washington National Symphony, Atlanta Symphony and Seattle Symphony among others. He is also a regular visitor to Asia and returns in December 2011 to conduct two programmes as Princicipal Guest Conductor of Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. In 2009 he made his Australian debut conducting the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, followed this with his Melbourne Symphony debut in 2011.

Highlights in 2011/12 include returns to the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic and Finnish Radio Symphony; debuts with Dallas Symphony, Houston Symphony, National Artsl Center Orchestra Ottawa, Netherlands Philharmonic, Barcelona Symphony, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Liverpoool Philharmonic and Orchestre National de Lyon; a major tour of Japan with the Prague Philharmonia; and a return to the Prague Spring Festival to lead a concert performance of Beethoven's Fidelio, also with the Prague Philharmonia.

In the field of opera, Jakub Hrůša made his Glyndebourne Festival and Tour debuts in 2008 conductingCarmen, and followed this with Don Giovanni (Festival and Tour 2010) and the Turn of the Screw(Festival 2011). For Glyndebourne's autumn 2011 he prepared La Boheme. He has also led productions for Royal Danish Opera (Boris Godunov), Prague National Theatre (Rusalka) and Opera Hong Kong (Werther).

As a recording artist, Jakub Hrůša so far released six discs for Supraphon, five with the Prague Philharmonia including a critically-acclaimed live recording of Smetana's Má Vlast taken from the opening of the Prague Spring Festival in 2010. Also that year he made a recording of the Tchaikovsky and Bruch violin concertos with Nicola Benedetti and the Czech Philharmonic for Universal.

Jakub Hrůša studied conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague where his teachers included Jiří Bělohávek. Since his graduation in 2004, he has built a strong reputation in his home country, and has conducted all the major Czech orchestras. Previously he served as Principal Concuctor of the Prague Philharmonia, Music Director of the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic, Associate Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, and Young Associate Conductor with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. He is currently Prasident of the International Martinů Circle.

Simon Trpčeski performs with orchestras such as Concertgebouworkest, Russian National Orchestra, WDR Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre National de France, New York Philharmonic, China Philharmonic and Sydney Symphony Orchestras. He regularly gives solo recitals in cultural capitals like New York, Paris, Munich, Prague, São Paulo, Sydney, Beijing, Tokyo and London where he was recently Artist in Residence at Wigmore Hall. He performs at prestigious festivals including Verbier, Bergen, the Baltic Sea Festival and BBC Proms.

During the 2019/20 season Trpčeski has returned to European orchestras such as London Symphony Orchestra, Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, Janacek Philharmonic Ostrava, Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra and Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia. He appeared several times in Germany, including performances of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Staatskapelle Weimar and Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto with the Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin under Juraj Valcuha. Further afield, he returned to Detroit Symphony Orchestra and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Solo recitals included dates at London’s Barbican Centre, National Concert Hall Dublin, Nova Gorica in Slovenia and at Auditorium de Radio France, Paris. 

He is a committed chamber musician and appears in recital this season with Daniel Müller-Schott, in Frankfurt, Heidelberg and at Maribor Festival. His folk project ‘Makedonissimo’, devised with composer Pande Shahov, celebrates the music and culture of his native Macedonia. The band has appeared previous season in South Korea, Romania and will tour Australasia in the 2020/21. 

Trpčeski has recorded prolifically. His last release has appeared in autumn 2019, a disc of solo Russian repertoire, for Onyx Classics. His first recording (EMI, 2002) received the “Editor’s Choice” and “Debut Album” at the Gramophone Awards. In 2010 and 2011, his interpretations of Rachmaninov’s complete concertos were recognised with Classic FM, Gramophone “Editor’s Choice,” and Diapason d’or accolades. His recording for Onyx Classics of Prokofiev’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 3 again won him the Diapason d’or in September 2017. 

With the special support of KulturOp – Macedonia’s leading cultural and arts organisation – Trpčeski works regularly with young musicians in Macedonia to cultivate the country’s next generation of artists. Born in Macedonia, Trpčeski studied with Boris Romanov. He was previously a BBC New Generation Artist and was honoured with the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award in 2003.