Biography

Rastislav Štúr

conductor

Rastislav Štúr is one of the leading figures in Slovak operatic and symphonic conducting. From 2018 to 2021 and again from 2024 to 2026, he served as Director of the Opera of the Slovak National Theatre; from 2008 to 2020, he was its Chief Conductor. He is a graduate of the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno.

He made his debut at the Opera of the Slovak National Theatre in 1996 with Boito's Mefistofele, marking the beginning of an intensive collaboration with Slovakia's foremost opera company. At the Slovak National Theatre, he has prepared and conducted an extensive repertoire including Puccini's Tosca, Manon Lescaut and Il trittico, Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and Così fan tutte, Smetana's The Bartered Bride, Verdi's Nabucco, Un ballo in maschera, Il trovatore, Falstaff and La traviata, Giordano's Andrea Chénier, Tchaikovsky's The Maid of Orleansand The Queen of Spades, Donizetti's La fille du régiment and Lucia di Lammermoor, Gounod's Faust, and Massenet's Werther. He has also made a significant contribution to the ballet repertoire of the Slovak National Theatre, conducting works such as Andersen, Spartacus, La Sylphide and Romeo and Juliet.

His artistic career has a strong international dimension. He has conducted in opera houses in Graz, Giessen and Essen, collaborated with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg at the Opéra National du Rhin, and in 2016 prepared and conducted six performances of Dvořák's Rusalka at the NCPA Opera in Beijing — the first-ever production of a Czech opera in China and the first opera production in the world to use 3D technology.

As a concert conductor, he has collaborated with many distinguished orchestras, including the Slovak Philharmonic, Prague Philharmonia, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, State Philharmonic Košice, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Evgeny Svetlanov State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Cairo Symphony Orchestra, and many others.

On the concert platform, he has worked with numerous world-renowned artists, including Montserrat Caballé, Plácido Domingo, Nadine Sierra, Diana Damrau, Peter Dvorský, Jonathan Tetelman, Edita Gruberová, Gabriela Beňačková, Eva Urbanová, Elena Obraztsova, Joseph Calleja, Simon Keenlyside, Bryan Hymel, Lawrence Brownlee, Anastasia Kobekina, Misha Maisky, Dalibor Karvay and Heinrich Schiff.

A special place in his career is occupied by his long-standing collaboration with Peter Dvorský, with whom he has performed numerous major opera performances and concerts both at home and abroad. Together with Prague Philharmonia and Peter Dvorský, he recorded the CD Vivere.

In 2000, he conducted a concert in Bratislava featuring Montserrat Caballé and Peter Dvorský. Following this collaboration, the legendary soprano expressed great admiration for Rastislav Štúr. On 4 December 2000, the daily newspaper Pravda published an article entitled "In Love with Štúr", in which Caballé stated:

"I am satisfied with the orchestra and I fell in love with the conductor Rastislav Štúr. This young man clearly lives fully through music."

Rastislav Štúr regularly collaborates with the Slovak Philharmonic, with whom he has appeared in subscription concerts, international tours and recordings. He has performed with the orchestra, among others, at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, in Cologne, Interlaken, Ingolstadt, on tours in Spain, and at the Tonhalle Zürich.

For his artistic achievements, he has received several awards. In 2017, he was awarded the Crystal Wing in the Music category, and in 2011 he received the Frico Kafenda Prize for outstanding conducting achievements at home and abroad.