Vladimír Válek (2 September 1935 – 16 February 2025) was a Czech conductor and educator, best known for leading the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1985 to 2011.

He then studied conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava with Ľudovít Rajter for a year, and further at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with Robert Brock and Alois Klíma [cs],[1] who was then chief conductor of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra (PRSO),[2] graduating in 1962.

[1] In 1970, he founded the Dvořák Chamber Orchestra,[1][3] an ensemble mostly of members of the Czech Philharmonic, performing in Prague and abroad, and recording, also for radio.

[5] He performed vocal-symphonic and symphonic music by Antonín Dvořák, Leoš Janáček, Bohuslav Martinů and Josef Suk, and works by Béla Bartók, Arthur Honegger, Gustav Mahler, Sergei Prokofiev and Igor Stravinsky, and by contemporary Czech composers such as Jindřich Feld, Jiří Jaroch [cs], Otomar Kvěch, Otmar Mácha, Ladislav Simon [cs] and Zdeněk Šesták [cs].

[1] Válek's recordings include Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra, Prokofiev's suite from Romeo and Juliet, and contemporary French ballets.

His recording of Erwin Schulhoff's piano concertos received the International Classical Music Awards of Cannes.