Orchestra

The Prague State Opera Orchestra

The Prague State Opera Orchestra and the opera chorus are the only entities that perpetuated the tradition of the Grand Opera of the Fifth of May after its fusion with the opera of the National Theater in 1948. Both of these ensembles continued to exist as independent components – under the titles Smetana Theater Orchestra and Smetana Theater Chorus – until the Prague State Opera was made an independent organization in April 1992. In addition to collaborating in PSO opera performances, the orchestra also performs separately. It appears regularly in the Prague Autumn International Music Festival and has been the main ingredient in the PSO’s New Year concerts. A live recording of its concert of works by Bohuslav Martinů and Georg Széll as a tribute to Széll on December 18, 1999 may be heard on compact disc, and in 2001 the orchestra recorded the music for Zbyněk Matějů’s ballet Golem, which is in the PSO’s repertoire. It has also shared in many promotional recordings of PSO opera performances. The orchestra appears separately abroad as well, for example in the German cities of Fürth, Ludwigshafen, and Bad Elster, and in recent years in two independent tours of Japan. Another testimony to the quality of the ensemble is the fact that in 1993 it was this orchestra that Plácido Domingo chose to accompany the finalists in his “Operalia” competition in Paris.