Conductor Tomás Netopil has emerged at the forefront of the younger Czech conductors vying to succeed the Czech legends of the baton. He has made a strong impact in western Europe as well as in his native country.

Netopil was born in Prerov, in the eastern part of what is now the Czech Republic, on July 18, 1975. He studied violin and conducting at the nearby Kromeríž Conservatory, focusing on conducting after the Iron Curtain fell and he was able to move on to the Royal Conservatory of Music in Stockholm, Sweden. His teacher there was Jorma Panula. Netopil scored a breakthrough when he won the first annual Sir Georg Solti International Conductors' Competition at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2002. Two years later, he made his formal debut leading an orchestra at the Prague Spring International Music Festival, and later that year, he conducted a performance of the Dvorák Stabat Mater at the Salzburg Festival in Austria, perhaps the pinnacle of the central European festival season. Since then, Netopil has enjoyed a flourishing career divided equally among the Czech Republic, Germany, and beyond. From 2008 to 2012, he was the music director of the Czech National Theater in Prague, and since then, he has been a frequent guest with the Czech Philharmonic and several other Czech orchestras. In 2013, he became the music director of the Aalto Theatre and Philharmonie Essen in Germany. He has led premieres of major operatic productions and has led the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra on tours to various countries, including the Czech Republic. Netopil's relationship with American musicians began as early as 2005 when he served as the assistant conductor at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. Since then, he has appeared with the Dallas Symphony as well as with various top western European groups, including the Orchestra della Scala in Italy, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Oslo Philharmonic.

From 2008 to 2017, Netopil recorded for the Supraphon label, with the Essen Philharmonic and other groups. In 2017, he moved to Oehms Classics, issuing a recording of Josef Suk's giant symphonic poem Asrael, Op. 27, and following it up in 2018 with the even weightier Mahler Symphony No. 9. In 2020, he was heard on Oehms Classics on an innovative new recording of Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz; he led the Essen Philharmonic on all three of these recordings. ~ James Manheim, Rovi