Mácal was appointed chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for a three-year contract, beginning with the 1986 season.[7] The Australian Broadcasting Corporation had agreed at the outset to adjust Mácal's fee so that he would not be adversely affected by the fluctuating Australian dollar, or in his tax arrangements, and any loss would be borne by the ABC. Shortly after taking up his appointment in March 1986, he asked to be released from his contract from the end of the first year, and this was agreed to.[7] But in July 1986, with five concerts of his first season still to come, he left the country without explanation or even informing the ABC.[8]
Mácal became music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in 1986.[7][9] He took that orchestra on an East Coast tour in 1989, which included performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and Carnegie Hall in New York City.[9] They also toured Japan in 1992.[9] He made a popular recording of Smetana's Má vlast for Telarc Records in 1991.[10] He conducted new music by Roberto Sierra for three years of him as composer in residence. The orchestra played many symphonies and tone poems by Antonín Dvořák during his tenure.[9]
Mácal became music director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO) in September 1993 concurrently to Milwaukee which he left in 1995.[9] He recorded with them nearly all the symphonic works by Dvořák,[5] including his Stabat Mater in 1994. He conducted the world premieres of six commissions, and twelve New Jersey premieres. On 19 October 1997, he led the concert for the opening of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.[9][11] In 1995, he made Dolby Surround recordings of Reinhold Glière's Second Symphony in C minor and the suite from his ballet The Red Poppy.[3] He concluded his NJSO tenure in 2002 and took on an emeritus title with the orchestra subsequently.[12]
After the end of the communist regime in his home country, he was able to return there. In 2003, Mácal was appointed chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic.[4][5] Although his contract with the orchestra was through 2008, he suddenly resigned in September 2007.[7][13]
In 2006, Mácal made a brief appearance in the Japanese drama series Nodame Cantabile, based on the manga by Tomoko Ninomiya. He played the main character's childhood mentor, conductor Sebastiano Vieira.[14]
Mácal died in a Prague hospital[5] on 25 October 2023, at age 87.[2][7][11]