KÜHN MIXED CHOIR

was established in 1959 when male voices were incorporated into what was originally a female chamber choir, set up in 1958 by Pavel Kühn (1938-2003) while he was still a student of  Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. The choir gradually became a pioneer in the performance of a cappella works of world Romanticism. The choir has won various international choral competitions ( e.g. in Italy and Hungary). The Kühn Choir of Prague regularly works with symphony orchestras (Prague Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Prague Philharmonia, Prague Radio Orchestra etc.), and is frequently invited to the international festivals Prague Spring and Smetana’s Litomyšl. The choir has also appeared in concerts under leading conductors (Vladimir Ashkenazy, Elli Jaffe, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, Charles Mackerras, Zubin Mehta, David Zinman, Petr Altrichter, Jiří Bělohlávek, Zdeněk Košler, Zdeněk Mácal, Libor Pešek, Gaetano Deloghu) and has sung with renowned symphony orchestras (Concertgebouworkest, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Israel Philharmonic, among others). The choir has many excellent recordings (among the others the complete choral works of Bohuslav Martinů). The performance of new contemporary works has always been a natural part of the choir’s programme. Several works were dedicated to the choir, even during its very early days. Its founder, Pavel Kühn, who had a profound influence on choral singing and its ideal tone colour, worked with the ensemble continually for nearly 45 years until his untimely death. The role of choirmaster was subsequently taken up by Jan Rozehnal who headed the choir for almost four concert seasons (2003-2006). Contemporary choirmaster of  The Kühn Choir of Prague is Marek Vorlíček