Chiefconductor

Libor Pešek

Studied conducting at the Academy of Musical Arts in Prague under Václav Neumann and Václav Smetáček. In 1958 he founded the Prague Chamber Harmony and with them established his conducting career in the former Czechoslovakia. In 1980 he was named the chief conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra and also served as a conductor for the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. From September 1987 to May 1997 he was the Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra where he remains a conductor laureate.

Today, Libor Pešek is the principal guest conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK and a member of the board for the Prague Spring music festival.  He has guest conducted for many American orchestras: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland and many others.  He has also cooperated with a number of European orchestras: the leading orchestras in London, Orchestre National de France, the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, the European Union Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Dresden Staatskapelle to name a few.

Libor Pešek was born and lives in Prague.  In addition to music he is very much interested in physics, Eastern philosophy and literature.  In March 1996 the British Queen Elizabeth II made him a Knight of the British Empire, and in 1997 the President of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel presented him with a medal “For Service to the Country, 1st Degree”.  The University of Liverpool awarded him an honourary doctorate, and an honourary fellowship was awarded to him by the University of Central Lancashire. Recently, Maestro Pešek has been named Chief Conductor of CNSO. Among other concerts and recordings he also made his appearance with this orchestra as the President of Prague Proms Festival.