Bohumil Gregor

Conductor

Bohumil Gregor conducted his first opera performance on October 26, 1947, with the Grand Opera of the Fifth of May in the building of today’s Prague State Opera. Through the end of June 1948 he gradually expanded his repertoire there, which he continued to cultivate for a short time after the fusion of the company with the National Theater in Prague. There he received an invitation for a regular egagement with the royal Opera in Stockholm, from which after four seasons he moved to the State Opera in Hamburg where he soon achieved an important position in the era of Liebertnann. In 1972 he renewed his work in Prague, but until 1986 he was also principal guest conductor of the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdan, where he concentrated on Janáček, Strauss, and Puccini. He has appcared as a guest regularly in great opera centers of America and Europe – in San Francisco, Washington, Philadelphia, West Berlin, Cologne, Zurich, Geneva, and elsewhere   and with the opera company of Prague’s National Theater he has appeared in numrous European festivals and other venues, above all with Janáček but also with Smetana, Dvořák, and Martinů. The year 1999 marked his comeback to the place which had witnessed his beginnings: he became music director of the Prague State Opera (1999–2002). His era here started with the world premiere of Emil František Burian’s forgotten opera, Bubu of Montparnasse, which was followed by Karel Weis’ The Polish Jew, and Ambroise Thomas’ Hamlet. In the last season, he mounted the opera, La Roulette, by Zdenek Merta (world premiere, March 17, 2005), on whose score he closely collaborated with the composer; and he conducted the season’s performances of Puccini’s Tosca and Madama Butterfly.

Maestro Bohumil Gregor passed away on November 4, 2005.