Tomas Brauner

Conductor Tomáš Brauner leads the Prague Symphony Orchestra and is an important figure in his native Czech Republic and abroad. His recordings have focused on Czech music. Brauner was born in Prague in 1978. He attended the Prague State Conservatory, studying oboe with František Kimel and graduating in that field in 1990. He switched to conducting, completing a two-year course with Miriam Němcová and Miroslav Košler, and then going on to the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague for conducting studies with Radomil Eliška. After he graduated in 2005, he moved to Vienna for further studies at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst with Uroš Lajovič. He also took master classes from Kurt Masur in Wrocław, Poland. Brauner scored a breakthrough with a prize at the Dimitris Mitropoulos International Conducting Competition in Athens. As early as 2001, he was appearing with the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Pardubice, touring with that group in Western Europe and leading it in a performance of Mozart's opera Die Zauberflöte at the International Music Festival in Bad Kissingen, Germany. Opera has been a specialty of Brauner's; he has a large repertory of Italian and French works and has led operas by Verdi, Donizetti, Puccini, Gounod, and Janáček at the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Brauner served as chief conductor of the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra from 2013 to 2018. With that group, he made his recording debut, leading an album of Dvořák Rhapsodies on the ArcoDiva label in 2015; in 2018, he and the orchestra backed cellist Petr Nouzovský on a recording of Martinu's complete works for cello and orchestra. Brauner also served as principal guest conductor of the Czech Radio Symphony in Prague from 2014 to 2018. From 2018 to 2021, he was chief conductor of the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra, staying on as principal guest conductor when he became chief conductor and music director of the Prague Symphony Orchestra in 2020. Brauner has served as guest conductor with a large variety of orchestras, many outside the Czech Republic; these include the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, and the Orchestra of Colors Athens, among many other groups. He has continued to conduct opera, leading a new production of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann at the Slovak National Theatre in 2019. Brauner has led the Prague Symphony in recordings for the Supraphon and Hänssler Classic labels, beginning with Karel Husa: Music for Prague on the former in 2021. In 2024, he and the orchestra issued an album of Dvořák's Slavonic Dances on Supraphon.
© James Manheim /TiVo