Biography

CHARLES OLIVIERI-MUNROE begins the 2011/12 season as the newly appointed Principal Conductor of Philharmonie Sudwestfalen. At the same time, he continues in his capacity as Chief Conductor with the North Czech Philharmonic, now in his 14th season.

Charles Olivieri-Munroe's hold on public imagination stems from a combination of talent and charisma. He is increasingly recognized in the international press for his innovative programming, interpretation of Slavic repertoire and his passion for purity of orchestral sound. His career takes him across five continents, appearing with many of the world’s finest orchestras which has included the Israel Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Deutches Symphonie-Orchester, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Danish Radio Symphony, Budapest Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, Royal Brussels Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Symphony Orchestra, and those of New York, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Athens, Istanbul, Lisbon, Tokyo, Seoul and Mexico City.

Under his leadership the North Czech Philharmonic has seem a dramatic increase in its size, budget and international reputation with highly praised recording projects, commissions of new music, world premieres and live broadcasts. His recordings with SONY, RCA Red Seal, NAXOS, SMS Classical, Naïve Records can be heard on many of the world’s classical radio stations. He has also held the position of Principal Conductor of the Colorado ‘Crested Butte’ Festival in the USA (2008), Artistic Director of the Inter-Regionales Symfonie Orchester in Germany (2008), Chief Conductor of the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra in Bratislava (2001-2004), Resident Conductor of the Brno Philharmonic (1995-97) and Karlsbad Symphony Orchestra (1993-95).

In the opera house, Charles Olivieri-Munroe has appeared at the Berlin Komische Oper conducting Verdi’s Falstaff, in Milan conducting Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Lago di Como Festival conducting Aida and at Il Teatro Fenice in Venice. In Amsterdam he presented the Netherlands National Ballet in a crossover production entitled Body and Voice. He has also appeared at the Prague National Opera and the Prague State Opera. He was named Music Director at the Warsaw Chamber Opera conducting a new production of Stravinsky’s Rake’s Progress and next year will appear at the Warsaw National Theater conducting Stravinsky’s opera Le Rossignol.

Charles Olivieri-Munroe grew up in Toronto where he studied the piano with the eminent pedagogue, Boris Berlin, at the Royal Conservatory of Music and at the University of Toronto. Following his graduation in 1992 he won three Ontario scholarships to study conducting with Otakar Trhlik at the Janacek Academy of Music in Brno, Czechoslovakia. He was also a student of Jiri Belohlavek and spent two summers (1995/96) at L’Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena studying with Ilja Musin and Yuri Temirkanov. In 1997 Charles Olivieri-Munroe was a recipient of the $20,000 career grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. His international career was launched by a series of triumphs in international competitions culminating with him winning First Prize in the 2000 ‘Prague Spring International Music Festival’ Conducting Competition in which he also won the prizes offered by Supraphon Records, City of Prague and by Czech Radio.

Today, Charles Olivieri-Munroe is a key personality with the major musical institutions in Prague including the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Spring International Festival and Prague Academy of Music where he has recently been appointed to the conducting faculty by Jiri Belohlavek.
He discovered and has given premiere performances by such famous Czech composers as Martinu – Nocturne, Karel Ancerl – Sinfonieta, Smetana – From My Life and Janacek – the original version of his opera Jenufa.

He launches the 2010/11 season with several debut performances this season in Japan with the Nagoya Symphony Orchestra, in France at l’Orchestre National des Pays de La Loire, the Sudwestfallen Philharmonie, Bremen Philharmonic, Dessau Philharmonic, the Moscow Philharmonic, the Santiago Symphony in Chile, and the Odense Symphony Orchestra in Denmark. Coming up are a German tour with the Nordwestdeutche Philharmonie, a tour with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, and debuts with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia and a recording with the Czech Philharmonic for SONY-Classical.

May 2011