Jiří Kout (born 26 December 1937) is a Czech conductor who currently works as both chief conductor of the and as a director of the Theater St. Gallen. Coming from the eastern surroundings of Prague, Kout experienced the Soviet influence early on when he worked as a conductor in

Plzeň Plzeň (), also known in English and German as Pilsen (), is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about west of P ...

at the Divadlo Josefa Kajetána Tyla and was banned from performing there for four years. In 1977, he took advantage of a business trip to the West to leave the Czech Republic permanently. Kout's career began in 1976 with a position at the

Deutsche Oper am Rhein The Deutsche Oper am Rhein (German Opera on the Rhine) is an opera company based in Düsseldorf and Duisburg. The opera also has an associated classical ballet company. Axel Kober has been its music director since 2009. The resident orchestra, t ...

(in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

and

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

).After that he became General Music Director a
Saarbrücken Opera House
where he conducted Wagner´s Ring cycle (1996-1990). At the

Deutsche Oper Berlin The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house (after Munich's) and also home to the Berlin State Ballet. Since 2004, the ...

and the

Leipzig Opera The Leipzig Opera () is an opera house and opera company located at the Augustusplatz and the Inner City Ring Road at its east side in Leipzig's district Mitte, Germany. History Performances of opera in Leipzig trace back to Singspiel perfo ...

he spontaneously stood in for ailing colleagues and thereby obtained further engagements. He became famous with his interpretations of the works of

Leoš Janáček Leoš Janáček (, 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, Music theory, music theorist, Folkloristics, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian folk music, Moravian and other Slavs, Slavic music, includin ...

(such as his rehearsal of ''

Jenůfa ''Její pastorkyňa'' (''Her Stepdaughter''; commonly known as ''Jenůfa'' ) is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the Play (theatre), play ''Její pastorkyňa'' by Gabriela Preissová. It was ...

''). When Kout was able to return to Prague after the fall of the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...

, he also returned to the desk of the

Czech Philharmonic The Czech Philharmonic () is a symphony orchestra based in Prague. Its principal performing venue is the Rudolfinum concert hall. History The name "Czech Philharmonic Orchestra" appeared for the first time in 1894, as the title of the orche ...

.Jiří Kout
on Czech Opera From 2006 to 2013, Kout headed the Symfonický orchestr hlavního města Prahy FOK.

References

External links

Jiří Kout 80
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kout, Jiri 1937 births Living people Czech male conductors (music) Musicians from Prague 21st-century Czech conductors (music) 21st-century Czech male musicians Czechoslovak conductors (music)