Internationally renowned for his masterful interpretations and graceful conducting style, Zdenek Macal has conducted over 160 orchestras worldwide, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Orchestra della Scala, the Stockholm Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic and the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. Maestro Macal has also conducted at major opera houses throughout Europe including Prague, Cologne, Geneva, Turin and Bologna. He has taken part in major international festivals including those of Vienna, Lucerne, Edinburgh, Prague, Zurich, Athens and Montreux, as well as the Ravinia, Tanglewood and Wolf Trap festivals in the United States. He assumes the music directorship of the acclaimed Czech Philharmonic Orchestra beginning with the 2003-04 season ... read full bio

Internationally renowned for his masterful interpretations and graceful conducting style, Zdenek Macal has conducted over 160 orchestras worldwide, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Orchestra della Scala, the Chicago Symphony, the Munich Philharmonic and the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. Maestro Macal has also appeared at major opera houses throughout Europe including Prague, Cologne, Geneva, Turin and Bologna. Currently in his fifth season as Music Director of the acclaimed Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Mr. Macal has led the orchestra on a number of major international tours and critically acclaimed recordings.

Since his American debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra 35 years ago, Maestro Macal has conducted widely throughout North America, frequently leading such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the National Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the New World Symphony and the symphony orchestras of Montreal and Toronto.

Macal has released numerous discs with the Czech Philharmonic for Exton, with recent releases including Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 1, Mahler's Symphony No. 3, and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 (Pathètique). As Music Director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra from 1993 to 2002, Maestro Macal significantly built the orchestra's reputation through the introduction of several highly acclaimed series, including the summer Amadeus Festival, as well as an exclusive recording contract with Delos International. Among their releases is a Grammy-winning disc of Dvorak's Requiem and Symphony No. 9. Other Delos releases include Dvorak's "The Spectre's Bride" (2002); Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique (1998); "Heaven and Hell," an all-Mussorgsky CD featuring Pictures at an Exhibition and the premiere recording of The Dream of the Peasant Gritzko (1997); Glière's Red Poppy Suite and Symphony No. 2 (1996) and Dvorák's Stabat Mater (1994), which elicited rave reviews.  In 1998, Maestro Macal recorded works by American composer Richard Danielpour with the London Philharmonia on Sony.  He has also recorded for EMI, French Decca, Supraphon, Deutsche Grammophon and Koss, for which he recorded the complete Dvorák symphonies and tone poems and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

Born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, Zdenek Macal is an American citizen. At the age of four he began violin studies with his father. He went on to study conducting at the Brno Conservatory and then at the Janácek Academy of Music, where he graduated with highest honors in 1960. Maestro Macal's previous positions include music directorships of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the Cologne Radio Symphony and the Radio Orchestra of Hannover. He has also served as Chief Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Principal Conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra and Principal Conductor of Chicago's Grant Park Summer Festival. He first received international attention by winning two prestigious contests, the 1965 International Conducting Competition in Besançon, France, and the 1966 Dmitri Mitropoulos Competition in New York, chaired by Leonard Bernstein. In May 1998, the Westminster Choir College honored Maestro Macal with an honorary doctorate.