The Prague Symphony Orchestra ( Czech : Symfonický orchestr hlavního města Prahy FOK ) is a Czech orchestra based in Prague. The orchestra has traditionally been known by the acronym 'FOK', standing for 'Film-Opera-Koncert', reflecting the orchestra's fields of activity as envisioned by its founder. When the city of Prague made the orchestra its official concert ensemble in 1952, it retained the acronym, giving it the official title 'Symphony Orchestra of the Capital City of Prague – FOK'.
7-396: Rudolf Pekárek founded the orchestra in 1934. In the 1930s the orchestra performed the scores for many Czech films , and also appeared regularly on Czech radio. An early promoter of the orchestra was Václav Smetáček , who became the orchestra's chief conductor in 1942, and held the post for the next 30 years. After Smetáček's departure from the post of chief conductor, artistic leadership
14-787: The Ugolino Vivaldi . Pekárek was broadcast on Adelaide radio station, 5AD , in September 1949 when conducting the South Australian Symphony Orchestra with Clement Q Williams as soloist. By November of that year he was appointed as a conductor for the ABC Orchestra of Western Australia . Later it became the West Australian Symphony Orchestra , which he also conducted. In 1954 he became chief conductor of
21-472: The orchestra for an extensive time include Václav Neumann, Zdeněk Košler , and Vladimír Válek. From March 2001 to the end of the 2005/2006 concert season, the Chief Conductor and music director of the orchestra was Serge Baudo . Since the 2006/2007 concert season, Jiří Kout has held the position of Chief Conductor, whilst Serge Baudo is the honorary Conductor. In 2015/2016–2019/2020 Pietari Inkinen
28-719: The standard repertoire in concert. It first played on radio on 29 December 1934. As a Jew, Pekárek was imprisoned in 1942 during the German occupation during World War II . He was forced to work in Polish mines. He escaped the Germans in 1944, joined the Czech Army of Liberation and survived the war (see Resistance in German-occupied Czechoslovakia ). In October 1948 he emigrated to Sydney, Australia on
35-746: Was Chief Conductor. Tomáš Brauner assumed the role of Chief Conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra in September 2020. The orchestra built its reputation and respect by cooperation with internationally recognized conductors ( Georg Solti , Seiji Ozawa , Zubin Mehta , Charles Mackerras , Gennady Rozhdestvensky , Helmuth Rilling etc.) and top soloists. Since 1995 the orchestra has been part of several crossover projects, which aim to mix metal and classical music together. The most important are: Rudolf Pek%C3%A1rek Rudolf Pekárek (24 February 1900 – 26 October 1974)
42-612: Was a Czech - Australian conductor. In 1934 he founded the Prague Symphony Orchestra , giving work to many unemployed musicians. It was known as the FOK Orchestra (Film – Opera – Konzert), or the FOK Salon Orchestra or sometimes Pekárek's Salon Orchestra. At the beginning the ensemble made its living by intensive recording of music for films, and only later changed its focus to presenting
49-462: Was taken over in succession by Ladislav Slovák (1972–1976), Jindřich Rohan (1976–1977), and then Jiří Bělohlávek (1977–1989), whose work marked an important stage from the standpoint of the ensemble's intensive artistic development. After Bělohlávek came Petr Altrichter (1990–1992), Martin Turnovský (1992–1995), and Gaetano Delogu (1995–1998). Other important Czech conductors who have worked with
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