The renowned Czech maestro Jirí Belohlávek took up the position of Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in July 2006, having been appointed Principal Guest Conductor in September 1995. Music Director Laureate of the Prague Philharmonia, which he founded in 1994 and with which he has recorded and toured extensively, making a televised appearance at the BBC Proms in July 2004, he studied at the Conservatory of Music and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. In his homeland, he was Chief Conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra from 1977 to 1989, Music Director of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra from 1990 to 1992, and in 2006 was appointed President of the Prague Spring Festival. He appears regularly with major orchestras in Europe, Japan and North America. These include the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra and NHK Symphony Orchestra as well as the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Washington DC, St Louis, Montreal and Minnesota. Highlights of the 2007 / 2008 season have included appearances with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Philadelphia Orchestra as well as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam and Orchestre de Paris. He also led the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in a production of Eugene Onegin.