About US
Jérôme Kuhn, Conductor
Jérôme Kuhn is conductor and artistic director of the Nouvel Opéra Fribourg, the Prague Symphonic Ensemble and Ensemble Vocal de Villars-sur-Glâne. He has been a regular guest conductor at Nouvel Opéra Fribourg (NOF) since 2018 and was previously musical director of Opéra Louise (2011-2017).
On the opera stage, he has distinguished himself in contemporary repertoire such as Powder Her Face by Thomas Adès (acclaimed by Le Monde, Télérama and France Info), and The Importance of Being Earnest by Gerald Barry, having conducted the Parisian premieres of these works - The latter was also broadcast on OperaVision. Other opera successes include the Paris premiere of Shostakovich's operetta Moscow Paradise at the Théâtre de l'Athénée Louis-Jouvet, and the Swiss premiere of Marius Felix Lange's Snow White.
In the 2024-25 season, he conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra in a recording of Gerald Barry’s La plus forte (to be broadcast on BBC 3 and released on Absilone in 2025), as well as two new opera commissions by David Buckley and Richard Harvey. He will also return to Theater Magdeburg to conduct the world premiere of Salomé, Gerald Barry’s new opera.
In recent seasons, Jérôme made his debut at the Theater Magdeburg in Germany, with the German premiere of Gerald Barry's Alice's Adventures Underground, and conducted a double bill of Poulenc's La Voix humaine and Ravel's L'Heure espagnole with Nouvel Opéra Fribourg. He also worked with the Academy of Ancient Music in concert performances of Händel’s Messiah, Mozart's Great Mass in C minor and Bach’s St John Passion.
Jérôme has collaborated with numerous other orchestras and ensembles throughout Europe, such as the Orchestre de Chambre Fribourgeois, Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain NEC, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra. Also active in the field of recording, he collaborates on projects for Netflix and HBO productions, having recorded at AIR Studios in London, La Seine Musicale in Paris, Smecky Music Studios in Prague.
A trained pianist, during his studies Jérôme was a winner of the "Prix de Musique Contemporaine" of the Haute école de musique Lausanne-Fribourg.
Jiří Šesták, artistic director
Jiří Šesták (1980) graduated Prague Conservatory and Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He successfully took part in many musical competitions during his studies. He also gained the scholarships from Czech Music Fund Foundation, Artist Life Foundation, Bohuslav Martinů Foundation and he is also prize winner of Yamaha music foundation. Since 1998, he is the permanent member of Prague State Opera orchestra in the position of the principal oboist. In 2013 he cofounded the symphonic orchestra Prague Symphonic Ensemble where he works as an Artistic director and principal oboist. 
