Acclaimed for his scintillating, authentic, and inclusive approach to conducting, Petr Popelka has served as Chief Conductor at the Wiener Symphoniker since the 2024/25 season. Alongside performances at the Wiener Konzerthaus and the Musikverein Wien, the orchestra is undertaking two European tours and one Asian tour this season, while also continuing its successful Primavera da Vienna festival in Trieste.

Other highlights of the season include his debuts with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Orchestre National de France, as well as Salzburg Festival. He also returns to the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester zu Leipzig, Staatskapelle Berlin, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Danish National Symphony Orchestra. He returns to the Zurich Opera House with Verdi’s Don Carlo.

Previous debuts have taken him to the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and NHK Symphony Orchestra among others. In previous seasons, he featured in prestigious televised concerts such as the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra's Velvet Revolution concert and the 2024 Nobel Prize Concert with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. In the pit, he made guest appearances at the Bayerische Staatsoper (Káťa Kabanová & Rusalka), Staatsoper Unter den Linden (Tosca), Deutsche Oper Berlin (Tristan und Isolde), Semperoper Dresden (Die Nase), Theater an der Wien (Schwanda & Die Fledermaus), and the Zurich Opera House (Don Giovanni).

Petr Popelka began his conducting career during the 2019/20 season after serving as deputy principal double bassist at the Staatskapelle Dresden from 2010 to 2019. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed as the Chief Conductor at the Norwegian Radio Orchestra in Oslo (2020–2023) and subsequently led the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra (2022–2026). He received his musical training in his hometown of Prague and in Freiburg and is also active as a composer.