Theodore Kuchar
Theodore Kuchar, one of the most prolifically recorded conductors of the past decade, appears on over 100 compact discs for the Naxos, Brilliant Classics, Ondine and Marco Polo labels. For the past 15 years, he has served as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of two of Europe’s preeminent orchestras, the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. He also presently serves as Music Director and Conductor of the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra and the Reno Chamber Orchestra. An avid chamber musician, he served as the Artistic Director of The Australian Festival of Chamber Music (1990-2006), and since 2005 has served as the Artistic Director of the Nevada Chamber Music Festival. Since 2004, he has served as Resident Conductor at the Kent/Blossom Music Festival, the educational institution established by the late George Szell, in cooperation with The Cleveland Orchestra. Highlights of the 2010-11 season include his first season as the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela (Orquesta Sinfonica de Venezuela) and his debut with the English Chamber Orchestra.
The 2009-10 season included performances in Tel Aviv with the Israel Symphony, the Cape Town Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela in Caracas. Highlights of the 2008-09 season included a four-week, 20 concert tour of the USA with the Czech Symphony Orchestra. Guest conducting engagements include the BBC Symphony, BBC National Symphony Orchestra of Wales, Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, and Munich Philharmonic. During the past several seasons, guest conducting engagements have taken him to major musical centers including Amsterdam, Berlin, Chicago, Helsinki, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, Prague, Seoul and Sydney. He has collaborated with major artists including James Galway, Jessye Norman, Lynn Harrell, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Sarah Chang, Mstislav Rostropovich and Frederica von Stade, among others.
With the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra, Kuchar has recorded 12 compact discs devoted to the complete symphonies of Carl Nielsen, the complete overtures and tone poems of Antonin Dvorak, and the complete orchestral works of Bedrich Smetana for the Brilliant Classics label. Also completed for Brilliant Classics was a world premiere recording of Rachmaninoff’s Fifth Piano Concerto, a reconstruction of that composer’s Second Symphony based on the composer’s manuscripts, and the Piano Concertos of Ravel and Bartók. With the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra, Kuchar has conducted tours of Australia, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Switzerland.
During his tenure with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Kuchar conducted complete symphony cycles by Bruckner and Schubert, and led eleven international tours to Asia, Australia, Central Europe and the United Kingdom. Under Mr. Kuchar’s direction, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine became the most frequently recorded orchestra of the former Soviet Union. Between 1994 and 2004 the orchestra recorded over 80 compact discs for the Naxos and Marco Polo labels, including the complete symphonies of Kalinnikov, Lyatoshynsky, Martinu and Prokofiev, as well as major works of Dvorak, Glazunov, Mozart, Shchedrin, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky. They also recorded the symphonies and orchestral works of Ukraine’s leading contemporary symphonist, Yevhen Stankovych. The recording of Lyatoshynsky’s Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 was awarded ABC’s “Best International Recording of the Year” in 1994. Their recording of the complete works for violin and orchestra by Walter Piston for the Naxos label was hailed by Gramophone as a “Record of the Year” for 1999. Many critics regard their recordings of the complete symphonies of Prokofiev as the most accomplished available on compact discs.
Kuchar remains as strong an advocate of composers of the present day as he does of the great composers of the past. In addition to his recordings of contemporary works with the NSO of Ukraine, he has also conducted world premieres of works by Giya Kancheli, Joseph Schwantner, Alfred Schnittke and Rodion Shchedrin, among others. In May 2000, at the invitation of Yo-Yo Ma, Mr. Kuchar conducted the world premiere of Lukas Foss’s Capriccio for Cello and Orchestra, with Mr. Ma as soloist.
As a violist, Kuchar continues to devote several periods annually to one of his most serious passions, the performance of chamber music. His colleagues have included James Buswell, Martin Chalifour, Sarah Chang, Leila Josefowicz, Truls Mork, Paul Neubauer, Irina Schnittke, and Thomas Zehetmair. In 1994, he participated with colleagues Oleh Krysa and Alexander Ivashkin in the world premiere of Penderecki’s String Trio in New York City. He has appeared as violist in recordings for the Naxos label of works by Alfred Schnittke (with Irina Schnittke and Mark Lubotsky), Bohuslav Martinu and Walter Piston. The latter recording was awarded the Chamber Music America/WQXR “Record of the Year” for 2001.