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Jiri Kout

Jiri Kout

Born: 26th December 1937

Nationality: Czech

Jiří Kout is a Czech conductor who currently works as both chief conductor of the Saint Gallen Symphony Orchestra and as a director of the Theater St. Gallen.

Coming from the eastern surroundings of Prague, Kout experienced the Soviet influence early on when he worked as a conductor in Plzeň at the Divadlo Josefa Kajetána Tyla and was banned from performing there for four years. In 1977, he took advantage of a business trip to the West to leave the Czech Republic permanently.

Kout's career began in 1976 with a position at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (in Düsseldorf and Duisburg).After that he became General Music Director at Saarbrücken Opera House, where he conducted Wagner´s Ring cycle (1996-1990). At the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Leipzig Opera he spontaneously stood in for ailing colleagues and thereby obtained further engagements.