David Švec studied piano and conducting at the Conservatory in České Budějovice and at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno. In February 2000, he took part in master conducting courses with Sir Colin Davis in Dresden, and in 2002 he completed a study stay at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna. In 2004, he won the Bösendorfer Prize in the Opera Coaching category at the international Belvedere competition in Vienna.
As a pianist, he has collaborated with the Prague Chamber Orchestra since 1998 and is a sought-after chamber musician. He performs regularly with leading Czech singers such as soprano Eva Urbanová, bass-baritone Adam Plachetka, and soprano Kateřina Kněžíková. With the latter two, he has not only performed recitals at prestigious festivals but also recorded song albums — with Kateřina Kněžíková in 2021 (Fantasie) and with Adam Plachetka in 2024 (Večerní písně / Evening Songs). He continues to pursue his solo career as well — his most recent piano project is a concert performance and recording of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the South Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic, scheduled for release in 2025.
During his studies, he worked at the Janáček Opera in Brno, where he conducted a number of opera and ballet titles. In September 2003, he joined the Opera of the National Theatre in Prague, where he has held a permanent conducting position since 2011. At the National Theatre, he has conducted dozens of opera and ballet productions (currently including The Magic Flute, The Bartered Bride, The Jacobin, Don Giovanni, The Devil and Kate, Rusalka, Medea).
At the National Theatre, he has also prepared numerous Czech premieres, most recently in 2023 with Paul Hindemith’s Tuttifäntchen (in Czech translation LouTkáček). Among his interesting and lesser-known projects was the modern premiere of Jaroslav Křička’s opera Bílý pán at the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava in 2021.
In January 2022, he became Chief Conductor of the South Bohemian Theatre in České Budějovice. One of his first projects there was a staged performance of Handel’s oratorio Messiah at the Revolving Theatre in Český Krumlov, which was recorded by Czech Television in August 2023 and distributed worldwide by Unitel.
He often collaborates as a conductor with many Czech symphony orchestras, both on concert stages and in the recording studio of the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Among his international engagements, he has worked with Teatro Liceo in Barcelona, Opéra national de Paris, Opéra de Lyon, Vienna State Opera (Wiener Staatsoper), Theater an der Wien, Glyndebourne Festival, and Salzburg Festival. Since 2017, he has also collaborated with the Slovenian National Theatre in Ljubljana, where he prepared new productions of The Bartered Bride and Luisa Miller.
In 2014, he prepared a new piano reduction of Leoš Janáček’s opera The Makropulos Affair for the Bärenreiter publishing house, which was first used in a production of this opera at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.
Since October 2024, he has also been teaching conducting at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno.
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