Alena Hron’s work as a conductor has already made a significant impact on the Czech music scene and beyond. She has been appointed to lead the South Czech Philharmonic (Jihočeská filharmonie) from the 2024/25 season, making history as the first woman to hold the position of a Chief Conductor in the Czech Republic. The appointment came as Alena finishes her second Master’s Degree at the Zurich University of the Arts in the class of Johannes Schlaefli and Christoph-Mathias Mueller. She is the winner of the 2024-26 TAKI Fellowship, which offers intensive mentorship and coaching from Marin Alsop and the opportunity to conduct some of world’s leading orchestras. This includes a guest appearance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival in summer 2024.
Alena had one of her major conducting breaks last season as she debuted at the Prague Spring International Music Festival with the Prague Symphony Orchestra conducting a program of Prokofiev, Jan Novák and Respighi, which led to an immediate re-invitation. The debut also had an overwhelmingly positive critical reaction, hailed by several major news outlets as triumphant. “A fundamental part of [Prague Symphony’s] exceptionally motivated and excellent playing clearly needs to be attributed to the conductor: subtle yet able to inspire, lead and command.” (Klasika Plus)
She has already worked with most of the major orchestras in the Czech Republic including the Prague Symphony Orchestra, which she conducts again this season in subscription, Prague Radio Symphony, Janáček Philharmonic and Prague Philharmonia. Alena also led the Janáček Philharmonic in performances in Berlin and Paris and has recorded the complete orchestral works by Vítězslava Kaprálová with them. In summer 2024, she will open the Krumlov Festival with the same orchestra conducting Smetana’s Má Vlast accompanied with a ballet to commemorate the composer’s 200th Birthday. Other orchestras she has worked with include the Southwest German Philharmonic of Constance, the Göttingen Symphony, the Basel Collegium Musicum and the Košice Philharmonic.
Alena is an avid choral conductor and is one of the co-founders of a contemporary music chamber choir Punkt, which has won several prestigious awards under her leadership. She is passionate about opera and has conducted performances of Verdi’s Rigoletto and Puccini’s La Bohème, as well as a new ballet production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.
Prior to her studies at the Zurich University of the Arts, she attended the Prague Conservatory, the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, and has been mentored by Jakub Hrůša and Vasily Petrenko. Alena currently spends most of her time between Switzerland and the Czech Republic. She enjoys playing the piano, violin and singing.