Described by Kurt Masur as ‘outstanding, talented and very inspiring’ Lukáš Pohůnek is one of the emerging conductors of his generation. He was born into a musicians’ family in Žilina in October 1988. There he later attended Music Conservatory and graduated in Trumpet Performance in the class of his father Jan Pohůnek. At the time he took his first private conducting lessons with Karol Kevický. Following that he continued in his studies with Leoš Svárovský and was soon admitted to the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague where he achieved his Master’s Degree in Conducting. During the period he has also accomplished his Erasmus Exchange at The Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Cracow where he studied with Rafał Jacek Delekta. After the university studies he continued in his musical formation with Kurt Masur at Manhattan School of Music in New York City (MSM Special Programmes - Kurt Masur Conducting Seminar) and at Mendelssohn House & Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Foundation in Leipzig (International Mendelssohn Academy). At various conducting masterclasses he learned from George Pehlivanian, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Colin Metters, Tadeusz Strugała, Czesław Grabowski and Mark Heron.
So far he has developed a strong guest-conducting profile and has collaborated with orchestras such as London Philharmonic Orchestra, Southbank Sinfonia London, MSM Symphony Orchestra New York, Leipziger Symphonieorchester, Radio-Television Symphony Orchestra Belgrade, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra Bratislava, Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra Košice, Sinfonietta Bratislava, State Chamber Orchestra Žilina – Slovak Sinfonietta, Beethoven Academy Orchestra Kraków, Radom Chamber Orchestra, Tadeusz Baird State Philharmonic Zielona Góra, Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra Ostrava, North-Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Teplice, Academic Chamber Soloists Prague, ArtLink Young Virtuosi, Croatian Chamber Orchestra Zagreb and others. Engagements in the field of Opera include collaborations as an Assistant and a Guest Conductor with institutions such as Slovak National Theatre Bratislava and State Theatre Košice.
As an Assistant, Lukáš has worked with Maestros Vladimir Jurowski, James Judd, Oliver von Dohnányi and Rastislav Štúr. In 2016 he made his debut with Oltenia State Philharmonic in Craiova within „EUROPA SEASON“ as the youngest guest conductor of all then twenty-eight EU Countries. Among the vast number of instrumentalists he has collaborated so far are names such as Julia Fischer, Roman Patkoló, Agata Szymczewska and Martin James Bartlett.
Lukáš’s special interest lies in works of post-romanticism and the 20th Century. He is known as ambassador of Slovak Music, making frequent overseas performances of symphonic and chamber works by Eugen Suchoň, Ján Cikker and other Slovak composers. He also frequently performs contemporary music and welcomes every opportunity to conduct Film Music literature.