Biografia

24 febbraio 1946 · Praga, Cecoslovacchia [ora Repubblica Ceca]

31 maggio 2017 · Parigi, Francia

He was an orchestral conductor known for his interpretations of the music of Janacek and Martinu.

He started out playing the cello and graduated from the Prague Conservatory and Academy of Performing Arts. He began studying conducting under the guidance of Sergiu Celibidache. He won the Czech national conducting competition, then worked with the Brno Philharmonic. He was principal conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra from 1977-89.

In 2007 he became the first non-native English speaker to conduct and make the traditional speech at the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London. At the Last Night in 2009, he operated a vacuum cleaner in Malcolm Arnold's "A Grand, Grand Overture".