ROH, new music director

[bluestateprommer]

Well, quite a bit of news, the appointment of Jakub Hrusa as new music director at The House:

https://www.roh.org.uk/news/royal-opera-house-appoints-jakub-hrusa-as-music-director

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/oct/18/royal-opera-house-announces-jakub-hrusa-as-its-new-music-director

This might be very bad news for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which has JH on their list of candidates for its music director, if I understand things semi-correctly. But it does sound like very good news for Covent Garden.

[Belgrove]

This is an exciting appointment. I’ve seen him conduct at Glyndebourne. His control of the drama and chamber orchestra in the The Turn of the Screw was impressive, his Rusalka was ravishing and his volcanic conducting of Vanessa made me entirely rethink that work. It seems his conducting of Lohengrin at the ROH earlier this year was a something of an undercover rehearsal for the Director’s post, where he drew gorgeous sounds from the orchestra and shaped the long musical arcs with assurance. This augurs well for when the new Ring is performed as a complete cycle. He may even covert me to being a Janacek enthusiast.

[Barbirollians]

Very promising news.

[LHC]

I think this will be a very good appointment. The recent Lohengrin he conducted was absolutely superb, and that augurs well for his future there. As the Guardian reports, it seems that was an unofficial audition for the role and the Opera House was clearly very impressed with what they saw.

I wonder if it helped in recruiting him that he already lives in London and his children are now at school here. In the 'sun-lit uplands' of a post-Brexit UK, it might have been more difficult to attract a conductor who was based in Europe.

I'm already looking forward to him conducting the Ring. The Guardian also suggests he will be conducting operas by Janacek, Britten and Prokofiev in his first season.

[Maclintick]

I think this will be a very good appointment. I wonder if it helped in recruiting him that he already lives in London and his children are now at school here. In the 'sun-lit uplands' of a post-Brexit UK, it might have been more difficult to attract a conductor who was based in Europe.

Agreed. A gold-standard talent. His mentor Jiří Bělohlávek, whose sensitive musicianship was intermittently appreciated in the the UK, would have been delighted with this appointment.

[mopsus]

I sang for him in the chorus at performances of the Glagolitic Mass a few years ago, and he was a pleasure to work with.

[Cockney Sparrow]

I sang for him in the chorus at performances of the Glagolitic Mass a few years ago, and he was a pleasure to work with.

Same here - Beethoven 9th with the Philharmonia in May - knew what he wanted but was very decent how he got it, and yes, a pleasure to be there (Beeth 9 is a harsh enough experience as it is....).

As I go to the ROH about 12 to 14 times a year, I think the ROH can look forward to good times on the music director front continuing........

[Prommer]

A good conductor, I remember a fine Rusalka at the Wimbledon Theatre! But this seems (now at least) a lightweight appointment, surely? His Lohengrin was also (perfectly) fine, but nothing very special.

[Master Jacques]

A good conductor, I remember a fine Rusalka at the Wimbledon Theatre! But this seems (now at least) a lightweight appointment, surely? His Lohengrin was also (perfectly) fine, but nothing very special.

Lightweight? Not at all. I'd echo Maclintick's words, "a gold-standard talent" and add that I think him the best Czech conductor since ... well, since Mackerras, who was Czech-trained and whose heart was in Prague! After an uninspiring decade or so for the Royal Opera, this could prove an inspired appointment.