can find great qualities even in a bad video recording. Body language, eyes, energy- all this tells a story. There are five people in the preselection process. First, everyone watches alone, then we get together and discuss. There are male and female judges, and there are not only conductors- there is also our intendant, Marcus Axt, and there is an orchestra member. We go through several rounds of watching and try to keep it a slow, sensible process to achieve the best possible result. In a way, discussions are a trade mark of the Mahler Competition. Where others ask the jury not to discuss candidates under any circumstances, every decision in Bamberg is based on thorough discussions. How do you select and manage such a large jury in order to find a consensus every single time? Good question. I´ve been chair of the jury twice so far, and in the very beginning I was not at all interested in this position. I wanted to learn and experience the competition first before being given the director’s chair. But I have to say- the spirit in Bamberg, the discussions in the panel- it was extraordinary. It was constructive, harmonious, respectful, but also very natural and down to earth. What is the most important thing about a conductor? It’s inspiration- the ability of a person to inspire. Of course, a jury has to differenciate, judge details, give points. That is also part of the job. But if a conductor cannot inspire, cannot touch you, what’s there to discuss? Besides the monetary awards, what does the Mahler competition offer its laureates? Our point is: the entire world of classical music should take a note of our candidates. But then, it’s interesting to see what kind of relationship the winners are able to forge with the orchestra. They all get invited back at least once, and some of them stay very close to the musicians. They keep coming back, while others somehow never quite make it. There are cases, where conductors were really promising during the competition, but could not meet expectations when they
came back. But this is something perfectly normal in our profession: working with an orchestra for the second time is much, much harder than the first time. The excitement of being new is gone, the pressure is high, and you have to prove yourself in front of an orchestra that is much more critical than before. Born in Brno in the Czech Republic, Jakub Hrůša studied conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He is a frequent guest conductor with many of the world’s greatest orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra. As an opera conductor, he has conducted productions for the Salzburg Festival, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Opéra national de Paris. Jakub Hrůša is Chief Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Music Director Designate of the Royal Opera Covent Garden (Music Director from 2025), Principal Guest Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
Conducting Competitions
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