THEODORE KUCHAR, Principal Conductor of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine

The multiple award-winning conductor Theodore Kuchar is the most recorded conductor of his
generation and appears on nearly 150 compact discs for the Naxos, Brilliant Classics, Ondine, Marco Polo
and Toccata Classics labels. Recently appointed Principal Conductor of the National Philharmonic
Orchestra of Ukraine in Kyiv, he concurrently serves as the Principal Conductor of the Lviv National
Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine while having previously served as the Artistic Director and Principal
Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. He is the first figure in that country’s history
to serve as the principal conductor of each of its three major orchestras. Additionally, he has served in the
same position with the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra (formerly the Czech Radio Orchestra), the
Orquesta Sinfonica de Venezuela and prior to that served as the Music Director and Principal Conductor
of the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra in Brisbane, Australia. In addition to his conducting activities
he has served, for nearly three decades, as the Artistic Director of two of the world’s pre-eminent chamber music festivals, The Australian Festival of Chamber Music and the Nevada Chamber Music Festival.
Concert invitations and appearances during the present season have included the Berlin Philharmonic,
New York’s Carnegie Hall, London, Birmingham, Chicago and Miami, among others.
Mr. Kuchar’s longest titled affiliation and relationship is with the National Symphony Orchestra of
Ukraine, of which he was appointed the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor in 1994. They have
appeared together in over 250 performances, in Kyiv and on tour on four continents while their
discography totals over 80 compact discs. Most recently, they completed a 44-concert tour of North
America in January-March, 2017. In September, 2018 he commenced a relationship with the National
Opera and Ballet of Ukraine – Lviv, directing new productions of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring
(Vesna Svyashchena) and Pulcinella. In February, 2020 he directed the world premiere of the opera Lys
Mykyta by the Ukrainian composer Ivan Nebessniy.
Mr. Kuchar recently completed a 40 concert tour of the USA with the Lviv National Philharmonic
Orchestra of Ukraine with concerts in New York’s Carnegie Hall and Radio City Music Hall, Cleveland,
Miami and Washington, D.C., among numerous others. In October, 2024 they undertook a 13 concert tour
of the United Kingdom under the management IMG Artists-London. Conducting engagements during
the past seasons have included the major orchestras and opera houses of Ankara, Antalya, Beijing,
Buenos Aires (Teatro Colon), Helsingborg, Helsinki, Istanbul, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odessa and Prague, among
others. The opening two months of the past season have included a three-week residency at The
Cleveland Institute of Music where he opened that distinguished institution’s orchestral season and
conducted daily masterclasses and seminars for advanced tertiary conductors and instrumentalists and a
two-week engagement with the Staatskapelle Weimar in Bayreuth, Dresden and Weimar. Highlights of
the past several seasons have included a four-week, 20 concert tour of the USA with the Czech Symphony
Orchestra and guest conducting engagements including the BBC Symphony, BBC National Symphony
Orchestra of Wales (filling in on one day’s notice to conduct Josef Suk’s epic Asrael Symphony), Berlin
Symphony Orchestra, Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Symphony Orchestra, Prague
Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. Equally
committed to musical theatre he has held a special relationship, totaling over 200 performances, with the
Finnish National Opera and Ballet. He has collaborated with major artists including Itzhak Perlman,
Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, Mstislav Rostropovich, Yo-Yo Ma, Lynn Harrell, Emanuel Ax, Sergei Babayan,
James Galway, Jessye Norman and Frederica von Stade, among others. Among Mr. Kuchar’s numerous
accolades include BBC Record of the Year, Australian Broadcasting Corporation Record of the Year,

Chamber Music America Record of the Year, Gramophone Magazine’s Editor’s Choice, the WQXR Record
of the Year and several Grammy nominations in the category of Best Instrumental Album.