As of the 2025/26 season German conductor Hermann Bäumer will serve as music director of the State Opera in Prague. He will replace Andriy Yurkevych, who is leaving the post for personal reasons. Czech chorus master Zuzana Kadlčíková will also step into the rule of Chorus Master of the State Opera. She will succeed Adolf Melichar, who will remain at the State Opera as Chorus Master.

Bäumer has previously collaborated with the State Opera, for example, conducting productions of Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier and Dmitri Shoatakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. In June 2025 he will conduct a new adaptation of Aribert Reimann’s opera Lear. Kadlčíková will arrive at the State Opera from the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava, where since 2021 she has worked as chorus leader and conductor.

Bäumer says: ‘This opera house in the centre of Europe is home to fantastic singers, a skilful orchestra with a warm sound, a great choir, and wonderful technical and organisational teams, led by Per Boye Hansen. I felt very much at home at Prague’s State Opera and didn’t have to think long about the offer to assume the post of music director. No art form can move people to the same degree as opera, and my wish is to comprehend and convey as faithfully as possible the composers’ ideas. I am really looking forward to the forthcoming collaboration.’

Kadlčíková says: ‘I am simply delighted to have been offered the post of principal chorus master of the State Opera. I look forward to working for such a prestigious institution, to having the opportunity to further boost its artistic qualities.’