Tomáš Hanus is Music Director of Welsh National Opera, a position he has held since the 2016/17 season, and from 2025/26 takes up the role of Principal Guest Conductor of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.
At WNO this season he conducts The Flying Dutchman at the Wales Millennium Centre and on tour. His tenure has been distinguished by acclaimed performances of Peter Grimes, Così fan tutte, The Makropulos Case, The Barber of Seville, Jenůfa, Carmen, The Cunning Little Vixen, Der Rosenkavalier, Die Fledermaus and Khovanshchina. He recently led Sir David Pountney’s production of From the House of the Dead at the Janáček Festival in Brno, where he was awarded the Leoš Janáček Memorial Medal in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the composer’s legacy.
Highlights of the 2025/26 season include his debut as Principal Guest Conductor of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, a return to the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, and an appearance at the Prague Spring Festival with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. On the opera stage he returns to the Vienna State Opera for a new production of The Bartered Bride and revival performances of The Makropulos Case, and to the Bayerische Staatsoper for The Bartered Bride.
Recent seasons have brought debuts with Staatsoper Stuttgart (Salome) and Staatsoper Berlin (Rusalka), as well as guest appearances with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra and Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. Other notable engagements include his debut with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Dalibor at Brno Theatre, Rusalka at Teatro alla Scala, and further performances of Rusalka at Vienna State Opera.
Since his triumphant debut at the Vienna State Opera with Rusalka, Hanus has become a regular guest, conducting works including Hänsel und Gretel and The Makropulos Case (using his own critical edition of the Bärenreiter score), as well as new productions of Jenůfa, Rusalka and The Bartered Bride. He enjoys a similarly close relationship with the Bayerische Staatsoper, where he has conducted an extensive range of repertoire since his debut in 2009.
On the international opera stage, he has appeared at Opéra national de Paris, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Dresden Semperoper, Danish National Opera and Teatro Real Madrid. He began his career as Music Director of the Janáček Opera, Brno National Theatre, from 2007 to 2009, and has since returned regularly to his native Czech Republic, most recently for The Makropulos Case at the National Theatre in Prague.
As a symphonic conductor, Hanus has worked with orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé, London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, MDR Leipzig, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden, Czech Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Camerata Salzburg, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra (New York), and the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, among many others.
He has recorded widely with the Prague Philharmonia and State Philharmonic Orchestra Brno, and more recently with the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, including symphonies by Viktor Ullmann. His collaborations with leading Czech soloists have been released on Lotos Records.
September 2025
