The Conductor of the National Theatre Brno and a teacher of Conducting at Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno belongs to the most significant conductors of his generation. He was born into family of musicians and since early age he has been playing a piano. After singing in children’s choir Kantiléna he decided to dedicate his life to music. For Kantiléna’s choirmaster Ivan Sedláček was important to lead his students not just to collective and vocal feeling of music but also to teach them how important it is to organize their work and being enthusiastic. From 2006 to 2020 Jakub Klecker was Artistic director of this children’s choir. He conducted over 400 concerts and attended a lot of international competitions and music festivals with the choir.
Klecker studied conducting at Jiří Bělohlávek and Tomáš Koutník’s classes at the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU). After finishing his studies, he was offered a position of a conductor in National Theatre Brno in Janáček Opera. For a while he also worked as the principal conductor of this opera. Under his musical preparation, the audience could experience interesting production such as The Miracles of Mary by Bohuslav Martinů, Puccini’s Tosca or La boheme, Smetana’s Kiss, The Devil and Kate by Antonín Dvořák or Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte.
Between 2015 and 2020 Jakub was leading the Opera company of National Moravian-Silesian Theatre as a music director and with this company he presented plenty of spectacular titles such as movie-opera Three Wishes or capriciousness of life, Juliette or the key of dreams, operas The Brandenburgers in Bohemia and Secret of Bedrich Smetana, La clemenza di Tito from Mozart, Vedi’s Otello, Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District, Dvořák’s famous Rusalka and Fate from Leos Janacek which was recorded by Czech Televison and Czech Radio.
Jakub Klecker also cooperates with National Theatre in Prague (for instance Mozart’s La nozze di Figaro, Bizet’s Carmen, The Cunning Little Vixen by Leoš Janáček or Ballettissimo – The evening of composed ballet opuses). In 2013 he made his debut in Nuremberg State Theatre by conducting Verdi’s Aida and in 2014 in Oman he introduced Dvořák’s Rusalka to the audience of Arabian Peninsula for the first time in history. In his repertoire we can find The Flying Dutchman, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten), Turandot, The Cinderella, Nabucco, La Traviata, The Devil’s Wall, The Secret, The Bartered Bride, Carmen, Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen or Jenufa.
From 2019 to 2022 Jakub Klecker worked as the Chief conductor of Moravian Philharmonic of Olomouc where he prepared and conducted dozens of fascinating concerts including varied dramaturgy of different genre styles from Baroque to the Present also from classic symphonic music to film music, jazz and folklore music. He also devotes his time to symphonic music and he cooperates with a most of the Czech orchestras (The Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, PKF – Prague Philharmonia, Moravian Philharmonic of Olomouc, Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Virtuosi, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra of Zlin, Czech Chamber Philharmonic Pardubice). He performed with Udine Symphonic Orchestra and with Jenaer Philharmonie in Germany. In years 2007 and 2009 he conducted with Brno Philharmonic Orchestra during the concert tour in Japan. He repeatedly performed at Špilberk International Music Festival in Brno, Janáček’s Brno, Smetana’s Litomyšl and Rheingau Musik Festival. In 2009 and 2016 he conducted at one of the biggest Czech festivals Prague’s Spring and in 2017 he made his debut in Wroclaw Opera conducting Mozart’s La nozze di Figaro. In autumn 2019 he was invited twice to conduct in the Golden Hall of Vienna Musikverein (Moravian Philharmonic of Olomouc and Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra of Zlin).
Since 2014 Jakub Klecker has been teaching Conducting at Janaček Academy of performing Arts and in 2022 he became the Associate Profesor as well as the leader of the Department of Conducting and Opera Direction.