Libor Pešek
conductor

Libor Pešek was born in 1933 in Prague and studied conducting with Karel Ančerl, Václav Neumann and Václav Smetáček at the Prague Academy of Musical Arts. In 1958 he founded the Prague Chamber Harmony and with them established his conducting career in former Czechoslovakia. In 1980 he was appointed the Chief Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic, and then Conductorin-Residence of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Maestro Pešek is currently Principal Guest Conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra. Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic from 1987-1997, Libor Pešek now holds the post of Conductor Laureate and still enjoys a close relationship with the Orchestra who in 2003 hosted his official seventieth birthday celebrations at Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. In his capacity as their Principal Conductor, Libor Pešek took the RLPO on their first tour of the USA which was greeted with great critical acclaim in the major cities they visited. In May 1993 they performed the two opening concerts of the Prague Spring Festival, the first time a non-Czech orchestra was honoured with such an invitation for many years, and they returned there in May 1996. Pešek and the RLPO have also toured Austria and Germany, including three concerts in Salzburg and the orchestra's debut at the Musikverein in Vienna. The orchestra was a regular visitor to the Proms throughout Pešek's tenure in Liverpool. Libor Pešek is a frequent visitor to the USA where he has conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the St Louis Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras among others. He also guest conducts extensively in Europe and has appeared with many of the major European orchestras including the Orchestre National de France, Danish Radio Symphony, La Scala, Milan, Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden and the London Philharmonic. Libor Pešek has recorded extensively for Virgin Classics. His complete Dvořák Symphonies with the Czech Philharmonic and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestras received the greatest acclaim. Other releases include Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben, Smetana’s Má vlast (My Country), Mahler Symphonies 9 & 10 and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. The Czech repertoire is of course of special interest to Pešek and, in addition to Dvořák, he has recorded works by Suk, Martinů and Janáček. In March 1996 Queen Elizabeth II made Libor Pešek a Knight of the British Empire and in 1997 he was awarded an honorary fellowship from the University of Central Lancashire.