Theodore Kuchar
The 2009-2010 season is Theodore Kuchar’s seventh season as Music Director and Conductor of the Reno Chamber Orchestra, and his sixth as Artistic Director of the RCO’s Nevada Chamber Music Festival. He also currently holds the positions of Music Director and Conductor of the Fresno Philharmonic, Principal Conductor of the Janacek Philharmonic (of Ostrava, Czech Republic), and Resident Conductor at the Kent Blossom Music Festival, the educational institution and summer home of The Cleveland Orchestra.
Maestro Kuchar served as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine from 1992 through the beginning of 2000; upon completion of that contract, he was awarded the title of Conductor Laureate for Life. For sixteen years he served as Artistic Director of The Australian Festival of Chamber Music, regarded as the pre-eminent chamber music festival of the Southern Hemisphere. He also served for ten years as Music Director of the Boulder 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, Sydney and Winnipeg. Soloists with whom Kuchar has collaborated include James Galway, Jessye Norman, Lynn Harrell, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Sarah Chang, Mstislav Rostropovich and Frederica von Stade.
Kuchar is one of the most prolifically recorded conductors of his generation, appearing on almost 100 compact discs on the Naxos, Marco Polo, Brilliant Classics, and Ondine labels. His recordings include the complete symphonies of Kalinnikov, Lyatoshynsky, Martinu and Prokofiev, as well as major orchestral works by Smetana, Dvorak, Glazunov, Moussorgsky, Mozart, Shchedrin, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky. His recording of Lyatoshynsky’s Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 was awarded the ABC’s “Best International Recording of the Year” in 1994, and his Naxos recording with violinist James Buswell of the complete works for violin and orchestra by Walter Piston was hailed by Gramophone as a “Record of the Year” for 1999.
In 1982 Mr. Kuchar graduated from The Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of Robert Vernon, Principal Violist of The Cleveland Orchestra, and, immediately afterwards, accepted positions as the Solo Violist of the Finnish National Opera and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 1989, he was awarded a bronze medal by the Finnish government in recognition of his work in performing and promoting that country’s music in Finland and abroad.
Theodore Kuchar continues to devote several periods annually to one of his most serious passions, the performance of chamber music. His colleagues during the past few seasons have included Boris Berman, James Buswell, Martin Chalifour, Lamar Crowson, Leila Josefowicz, Oleg Kagan, Dong-Suk Kang, Isabelle van Keulen, Oleh Krysa, Mark Lubotsky, Truls Mork, Pascal Roge, Irina Schnittke, Torleif Thedeen and Thomas Zehetmair.