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Kühn Choir of Prague
The Kühn Choir of Prague has been part of the classical music scene for the past
fifty years. It 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 Prague’s Academy of Music. In this
way he was continuing the work of his parents, choirmasters Markéta and Jan
Kühn. Bohuslav Martinů wrote the cantata Mikeš of the Mountains for the first
concert performed by the newly established choir.
The choir gradually became a pioneer in the performance of a cappella works of
world Romanticism, both on the concert platform and in recording studios
(Brahms, Schumann, Bruckner, R. Strauss, Reger, among others). Apart from
winning various international choral competitions – e.g. in Italy and Hungary –
the choir also demonstrated its high standard of performance in the oratorio and
cantata repertoire, which it developed chiefly in close collaboration with the
Prague Symphony Orchestra and its conductors Václav Smetáček, Zdeněk
Košler, Zdeněk Mácal, Jiří Bělohlávek, Vladimír Válek, Petr Altrichter, Libor
Pešek, Martin Turnovský, Serge Baudo and Gaetano Delogu. The choir has also
partnered other prestigious orchestras, both at home (the Czech Philharmonic,
Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Prague Philharmonia, under
conductors Sir Charles Mackerras, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Zubin Mehta, David
Zinman and Elli Jaffe) and abroad (Concertgebouworkest, Tonhalle Orchestra
Zürich, Israel Philharmonic, among others). During the 1980s the choir was
asked to take part in several projects conceived by the Nederlands Dans Theater,
and was involved in productions created by choreographer Jiří Kylián featuring
the music of Stravinsky, Ravel, Janáček, Martinů and Eben.
An equally important role for the choir was its participation in recordings of film
music (e.g. Miloš Forman’s The People vs. Larry Flint or music by Zdeněk
Liška) and opera (e.g. Luboš Fišer’s Lancelot). The performance of brand new
works has always been a natural part of the choir’s activities; ever since it was
founded, the choir has inspired a number of works by contemporary composers
and boasts a series of fine recordings from all stylistic periods (including the
complete choral oeuvre of Bohuslav Martinů and a comprehensive recording of
Fibich’s Hippodamia trilogy). Three composers, in particular, have become
major names following years of collaboration with the choir – Jan Novák,
Václav Trojan and Luboš Fišer.
In 2009 the choir was involved in the extensive two-year project Martinů
Revisited, performing the Polička cantatas at the Prague Spring festival. A few
months later they presented the composer’s Field Mass at the festival Smetana’s
Litomyšl. The choir has been working with the National Theatre Opera since
2014. The Kühn Choir of Prague is a leading choral ensemble, appearing at
important Czech festivals and collaborating with prominent music ensembles
and orchestras.
The choir’s founder, Pavel Kühn, who had a profound influence on choral
singing and the development of its ideal tone colour, worked with the ensemble
continually for nearly forty-five 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 (2003-06). The choir is currently led by Marek
Vorlíček. Under his direction the ensemble has also been organising its own
series of choral concerts at the Czech Museum of Music since 2009. The Kühn
Choir of Prague appointed Lenka Navrátilová as second choirmaster in 2014.