Petr Popelka has been chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony since 2024 and was appointed General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera in June 2026, taking up the position in the 2029/30 season. In the 2026/27 season, he makes his debut with the Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Petr Popelka studied double bass at the conservatoire in his native Prague and at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. From 2010 to 2019, he was deputy principal double bass of the Staatskapelle Dresden, where he developed an interest in conducting. As the first conductor fellow of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, he worked closely with Alan Gilbert. He subsequently served as chief conductor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra in Oslo (2020–23) and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra (2022–26). With the latter, he recorded Smetana’s complete symphonic works, which received the Diapason d’Or de l’Année in January 2026.
In addition to his debut with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, this season he makes his first appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Orchestre National de France. He has previously conducted orchestras including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Münchner Philharmoniker, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra.
As an opera conductor, he has appeared at the Bavarian State Opera (including Dvořák’s Rusalka), Staatsoper Unter den Linden (Puccini’s Tosca), Deutsche Oper Berlin (Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde), Semperoper Dresden (Shostakovich’s The Nose), Theater an der Wien and Zurich Opera House (Mozart’s Don Giovanni).