The South Bohemian Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in České Budějovice in 1981 under the original name of the South Bohemian State Orchestra and currently has 39 members. The orchestra was founded by conductor Jaroslav Vodňanský, later on Ondřej Kukal, Jaroslav Krček and Stanislav Vavřínek took over as chief conductor, then in 2008 - 2020 Jan Talich, 2021 - 2023 Miran Vaupotić and from the 2024/2025 season Alena Hron became the new chief conductor.
In addition to the obvious interpretation of music by classical composers and pieces suitable for smaller orchestras and small concert halls, the orchestra is increasingly following the current trend of combining genres, discovering new perspectives on interpretation and presentation, and systematically working on ever higher quality. Most of the musicians are young, ambitious, skilful and promising performers who very much welcome any further opportunity to work with top conductors and soloists.
The ambition of the South Bohemian Philharmonic is to maintain the desired interest of existing subscribers and at the same time to focus on younger audiences and the wider public so that those South Bohemians who have been more or less passed over by so-called classical music will also come. It certainly has the capacity, direction and taste.
