Norbert Baxa
Associate Conductor
Norbert Baxa began his professional career in 1998 as the principal conductor of the North Bohemian Opera & Ballet in Usti nad Labem. In the 1999/2000 season he was promoted to the head of the opera division. At the age of 24, he was the youngest person ever to be appointed the head of an opera company, in the history of the Czech Republic. From 2015- 2023 he held the position of the chief conductor of the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen.
During his career Norbert Baxa studied various operatic, operetta, ballet and symphonic repertoire. In Czech premieres he also presented such works as Ward's The Crucible and Cherubini's Medea. As the conductor and the head of the opera division he received multiple awards including one for the best performance of the Opera Festival in Prague with Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin (2003) and the award of critics for the best performance of the year in Czech theatres with Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer (2007).
As a guest conductor he has appeared in many theatres including the National Theatre in Prague, Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania (Italy), Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Slovak Republic), Philharmonic Orchestra Altenburg-Gera (Germany), and Kuopio Symphony Orchestra (Finland). In the 2022/2023 season he made his international debut at the Wexford Festival Opera with DvoÅ™ák's Armida.
Norbert has travelled and performed internationally with the Prague Chamber Opera and Czech Opera Prague, presenting many works including Händel's Xerxes, Rossini's Il barbiere di Seviglia, Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer.
Since 2000 Norbert Baxa has been closely connected with the UBC Opera Ensemble at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. In cooperation with members of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra he studied many opera productions including Smetana's The Bartered Bride, DvoÅ™ák's Rusalka, Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Massenet's Manon, Ward's The Crucible and Menotti's The Consul.
Norbert Baxa is currently a professor at the Music Academy of Art in Prague. As visiting professor, he works for various international universities, including the University of Fine Arts in Zürich and the Norwegian Academy of Music.
In 2007 Norbert Baxa established the European Music Academy in Teplice, which organises international workshops for young conductors and opera singers.
Catherine Thornsley