After graduating from the Conservatory of Music in Teplice (violin – 1996, and conducting – 1998), she studied choir conducting under prof. L. Mátl (2003) and orchestra conducting under doc. E. Skoták (2006) at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno.

During her studies she was cooperating with various professional and amateur ensembles, e.g. with the Academic Choir of Brno, the Teplice Conservatory orchestra, the Janáček orchestra of the Janáček Academy, the Moravian Plilharmonic Olomouc, and the Brno Philharmonic.

In 1994-2000 she was working with the children’s choir CAMELLA in Nový Bor. Since 1999 she has been conducting and regularly performing with the mixed choir VOKÁL Přerov and took golden and silver band places in the international competition Svátky písní Olomouc. In 2002-2004 she was conducting the mixed choir Lumír in Brno. In 2003-2010 she was choirmaster of the children’s chamber choir Kolibříci at the J.G.Mendel’s Comprehensive School in Brno. Since 1998 she has been teaching violin and singing at various Basic Schools of Performing Arts. Since 2006 she has also been teaching music theory and conducting a big choir at the Conservatory of Music in Brno. Since 1999 she has been choirmaster of a special choir Sebranka, specializing in new methods of teaching singing to adult non-singers.

Her interest in music is realized not only through teaching, but also through active performance. She is member of the countrywide choir Bohemiachor and of several smaller ensembles (violin, singing, piano).

Rachel Skleničková was born 21.6.1992 in Prague. In 2003 she entered the Jan Neruda Grammar School in Prague, where she studied two majors: piano with MgA. Ružena Učňová and singing with MgA. Magdalena Bělohlávková.
In 2006 she started her studies at the Jan Deyl Conservatory and Secondary School for the Visually Impaired (she is completely blind), where she studied piano with MgA. Jana Köhlerová and a second major in voice with MgA. Nadězda Ostřanská.
In 2011 she participated in the piano winners' concert at The Very Special Art competition in Washington, where she was selected as one of the three winners.

In the Czech Republic, she has also successfully participated in several competitions, mainly in the field of classical piano.
She has performed successfully at the Prague Proms and Prague Spring Festivals with a piano concerto by L. van Beethoven.
In 2015, she was a guest at the 18th annual Spannungen Festival organized by Lars Vogt in Heimbach, Germany.
In June 2014 she graduated from the Jan Deyl Conservatory in piano performance and received the degree of DiS. She then studied piano at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts under Prof. Ivan Klánský and Prof. František Malý, graduating in 2021.
In the summer of 2017 she released a CD as part of the Kalkant project supported by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra among seven other young artists.

Ak. In 2018-2019 she studied in Helsinki within the Erasmus programme at Sibelius Academy under the piano direction of Prof. Hanna Aho. However, there was also education in choral music and Nordic singing techniques and playing folk instruments (Scandinavian violin or kantele).
Although her main field of study is piano, she also boldly dabbles in other fields, such as classical singing in the past - she graduated in this field in 2013 - and pop and jazz singing in the present, which she has applied, for example, in television broadcasts in collaboration with the Světluška Foundation in duets with famous personalities such as Tomáš Klus, the group Čtyřtet or Miro Žbirka, with whom she released the duet Čistý svet in 2019. The cooperation with this foundation contributed in no small part to her contact with famous personalities and later helped her career rise. She also composes occasionally. She has no formal training in choral conducting or conducting, but she has years of experience working with the Gabriel Choir, which she also conducts when performing some of its repertoire.
https://www.gabrielos.cz/
In her spare time she enjoys playing sports, travelling, learning new languages such as Finnish, which she applied during her Erasmus studies, and going outdoors.

Igor Karpilovsky studied conducting at the Brno Conservatoire under Stanislav Kummer. In practice he focuses mainly on choirs. In Brno he has worked with the Primavera children's choir and the mixed choirs Choirchestra and Gaudeamus.
He is currently studying conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (among others under the pedagogical guidance of N. Baxa, T. Koutník and L. Vasilko) and works as a singer or choirmaster in several Prague choirs, including the Kühn Mixed Choir. He is also a member and one of the permanent choirmasters of the national choir Bohemiachor and since September 2022 he has been leading the Prague choir Punkt, which focuses on contemporary music. During his studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague he collaborated with the Hradec Králové Philharmonic, the North Bohemian Philharmonic Teplice and the Martinů Voices chamber choir. He spent the winter semester 2023-24 in Vienna as part of the Erasmus+ programme at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, where he studied choral conducting with the renowned Austrian choral conductor Alois Glaßner.

In November 2023, he conducted the brass orchestra of the Music of the Castle Guard and the Police of the Czech Republic and in January 2024 he won the first prize in the category of conducting students at a competitive conducting showcase organised by the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra. In February 2024 he performed his Bachelor's Concert at HAMU with the Orchestra of the Academic Chamber Soloists and members of the Kühn Mixed Choir. Since March 2024 he has been working as an assistant conductor with the Liberec F. X. Šalda.

Jaroslav Šindler Jr. (*1995), as the son of a jazz guitarist, was exposed to music from a very young age, but he only started to actively pursue it when he entered the ZUŠ at the age of 12 (playing the piano). From 2011 he studied jazz piano in Jan Andro's class, under whose guidance he also played in the school band. The experience gained there he has been capitalizing on, among other things, in Anna Julia Slováčková's band, where he has been playing since 2017.

In 2021 he completed his Bachelor's degree at the Czech Technical University (Informatics), in 2023 he graduated from the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory and College of Music (Composition) under Tomáš Sýkora. He now uses the partial combination of these two fields of study to work as an editor at the music publishing house Bärenreiter Prague. This year he is finishing his Master's degree at the Universität der Künste Berlin (Jazz-Arrangement/Komposition).

Besides playing the piano, he has been involved in choral music for many years. He has performed in the Divertimento choirs (sb. Jaroslava Halamová, Tomáš Klima; the current choir Dábrlíbap is led by Filip Beneš), Beshamonie (choir of Libor Sládek) and Bohemiachor (choir of Vít Novotný). In 2015, he co-founded the male choir HuMuS (formerly Ch-tdž!), which he still leads and with which he won the absolute winner of the Jirkovský písňovar choral festival in 2017. Between 2018 and 2023, he was a member of the vocal ensemble Gentlemen Singers (art. v. Richard Uhlíř), and from 2022-2023 he was guest choirmaster of the Czech gay choir Doodles (sb. Marek Stanka).

Thanks to all this experience, she is currently working with a number of vocal ensembles and choirs - writing arrangements, consulting at rehearsals, etc. In 2022, he led a workshop at the Jirkovské písňovar, where the following year he sat on the expert jury.

Born in 1982; singer, teacher and conductor.

Initially, she studied the recorder at the Teplice conservatory, and at the same time she frequented the J. E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, where she studied music didactics. She finished her studies in Dortmund, where she focused on solo singing and conducting. She further specialised in choral vocal tutoring, especially concerning dynamics, timbre and accurate interpretation of the style of various musical periods. The core of her interest is jazz and popular music; in 2011, she studied at Glen Bushmann’s Jazz Academy in Dortmund and took courses in rhythmical music conducting (Matthias Becker, Martin Carbow, Roger Treece, Jens Johansen). In 2014, she finished her 3-year studies at the Complete Vocal Institute in Copenhagen, thus becoming the first Czech music teacher to receive CVT certification.

During her studies, she began working as the vocal counsellor and conductor of the Dortmund University Choir and participated in international projects, e.g. “Campus Cantat”. At present she conducts the “Hebbboppers“ jazz choir under the Dortmund University (where she has begun her graduation studies in musicology), she works as an international CVT Coach and is a member of the German a capella groups “Stimmrecht“ and “Cayenne“.

She was born in Trebic. After studying at the Brno Conservatoire (piano) she continued her studies in solo singing at the Academy of Early Music in Brno and choir conducting at Charles University in Prague under Jiří Kolář and Marek Štryncl (Gregorian chant under David Eben). Then she studied solo singing at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ostrava. She is a graduate of many courses in early music performance.

As a member and soloist of many vocal ensembles she has sung in concerts and competitions all over Europe (Italy, Poland, Germany, Austria, Ireland, France, etc.). She is mainly engaged in the period-informed interpretation of music of older styles.

Since 2007, she has been the principal choral director of the Czech Ensemble Baroque, under the banner of which she founded a vocal quintet specializing in high vocal polyphony and madrigal music of the 17th century. In 2017, the Quintet premiered Lukáš Hurník's madrigal cycle Last Summer with Juliet and was the first in the Czech Republic to make a successful debut video for Monteverdi's madrigal Io mi son giovinetta.

As a choirmaster, she has staged a variety of Renaissance, Baroque and Classical vocal-instrumental works, including stage opera productions, as well as purely vocal and a capella programs. The Czech Ensemble Baroque, under the direction of Tereza Válková, has been praised especially for its dynamic expression, the soloistic potential of its individual members and its considerable artistic flexibility. This is also the reason why the choir is able to effectively apply itself in 20th and 21st century works (Orff: Catulli Carmina, Stravinsky: Svaděbky, Martinů: Kytice, Fleischer: Adappa - world premiere opera, Mansurjan: Requiem - Czech premiere, Bernstein: Mass, etc.).

Together with her ensemble, Tereza Válková has taken several workshops with the famous vocal group The King's Singers and individual lessons with Paul Phoenix and Robin Tyson. In addition to her home orchestra, the Czech Ensemble Baroque, the vocal ensemble has also performed and recorded with Musica aeterna Bratislava, the Brno Philharmonic, the Olomouc Philharmonic, the Dama Dama ensemble, the B-Side Band with Vojtěch Dyke, and the Berlin Akademie für Alte Musik.
The ensemble has made numerous recordings for Supraphon, Pentaton music (NE), Evidence classic (FR), European Broadcasting Union, Czech Radio, Czech Television, etc. Since 2008 Tereza Válková has been a lecturer of the choral class at the Summer School of Baroque Music.

was born in 1964 in Kiev. He graduated from the Kiev State Conservatory majoring in choir conducting. At the end of 1980s and at the beginning of 1990s he conducted the choir of the Kiev Polytechnical Institute. He was also singer in the choir of the Kiev theatre. In 1995 he graduated from the Ukrainian National Academy of Music majoring in opera and symphony conducting. In 1995-1997 he was visiting conductor of the Cernigov State Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, in 1997-1998 he conducted the Rivne State Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra.

In 1998 he became assistant choirmaster and in 2000 chief choirmaster in the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava. He has studied plenty of important musical dramatic pieces with the theatre choir. He has also cooperated with Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra Ostrava and with other bodies; he has been choirmaster and conductor at festivals and on stages abroad.

As for his teaching experience, he was outside teacher of choir conducting and music theory at the Kiev conservatory in 1991-1995; and since 2000 he has been outside teacher at the Music Education Department at the Ostrava University (he teaches choir conducting, orchestra conducting, score reading, music theory for choirmasters). He is art director and choirmaster of the Ostrava Lady Teachers Choir that gained many awards and prices at international competitions and festivals (2003 – Olomouc, 2006 – Debrecen, 2008 – Praga Cantat, 2009 – Canti Veris Praha etc.)

Je zakládajícím sbormistrem pěveckého sboru Cantica laetitia, který vedl do roku 2022, současně řídí i další pěvecká tělesa (celorepublikový sbor Moraviachor a Sonet Vsetín a Český sbormistrovský sbor). Odborná vzdělání získal na Církevní konzervatoři v Kroměříži. V letech 1998-2004 působil jako sbormistr při Filharmonii Bohuslava Martinů Zlín. V roce 1998 založil dětský pěvecký sbor Cantica Zlín, z jehož absolventů se v roce 2004 utvořilo pěvecké těleso Cantica laetitia. Se svými sbory získává přední ocenění v domácích i mezinárodních soutěžích. (laureát soutěží: Praha,Olomouc, Žilina, Bratislava, IFAS Pardubice. Prijedor-Bosna a Hercegovina, Maasmechelen-Belgie, Varna Bulharsko, Bielsko Biala, Krakow - Polsko, dvě 2. místa - Spittal an der Drau. 3. místo – Llangollen, 3. místo.- Baden) Je často zván, jako lektor sbormistrovských kurzů a  porotce národních i mezinárodních sborových soutěžích v České republice i zahraničí. Aktivně se účastnil kurzů AMU Praha (varhanní – Martin Sander, Susan Landale; sbormistrovské – Helmut Frank), sbormistrovských stážích Hochschule der musik Dresden se zaměřením na interpretaci kantát Johanna Sebastiana Bacha (Helmut Riling) a dirigování vokálně instrumentálních děl zaměřených na vrcholný romantismus (Prof Helmuth Rademann). Za dobu svého působení získal Cenu Unie pěveckých sborů – sbormistr – junior (2009), Cenu za příkladnou práci s mládežnickým sborem na FSU Jihlava (2012), Ocenění primátora města Zlína (2014) a Cenu Ferdinanda Vacha (2019). Jedním z jeho projektů byla Dětská opera Zlín (2011-2016), se kterou provedl např. operu B. Brittena Malý kominíček nebo Broučky Václava Trojana. Jiřího Temla Čert a Káči. Je členem odborných rad Nipos-Artama pro dětské sbory a sbory dospělých. Je korepetitorem a dirigentem v Městském divadle. Zlín.

Luboš Hána (* 1973) was "bred" by the Ústían Faculty of Education, where Prof. Tomáš Fiala and Prof. Jiří Holubec tried to instil good choral manners in him. For more than twenty years he has been trying to share with students his experiences with music gained at various choral competitions, workshops, festivals and projects. Despite his warm relationship to classical choral music, it is always in the end popular music that is characteristic of the choirs he works with (VENTILKY Chamber Choir - ZUŠ Jirkov, NONA Chamber Choir - PF UJEP Ústí nad Labem). He is the spiritual father of the Jirkovský Písňovar choral festival, which is focused (how else...) on popular music.

Born in Granollers in 1970, he studied choral conducting with Enric Ribó, Conxita Garcia and Christian Grube. Since 1995, he has been the artistic director of the Societat Coral Amics de la Unió, a prestigious choir school in Granollers that has more than six hundred and fifty students and ten active choirs.
In this institution, he conducts VEUS - Cor Infantil Amics de la Unió - formed by 60 white voices between 12 and 18 years old - and the Cor de Cambra de Granollers, a mixed choir of 40 members. Both choirs are resident formations at the Teatre Auditori de Granollers since 2017.
These choirs have performed in the stable seasons of the Palau de la Música Catalana, L'Auditori de Barcelona and the Gran Teatre del Liceu, where he has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Edmon Colomer, Jordi Savall, Lluís Vilamajor, Robert King, Manel Valdivieso, Álvaro Albiach, Pablo González or Rubén Gimeno. He also regularly conducts international concerts and tours, all over Europe and from August 2017 also outside the continent.
He is regularly invited as a conductor to workshops and international choral festivals. Among the last participation we can highlight the EUROTREFF 2017 festival in Wolfenbüttel (Germany), Europa Cantat 2018 in Tallinn (Estonia), where he did a workshop with the Hungarian director József Nemes or the 6th Choir Meeting "El Canto Nos Une" in Colombia the September 2018.

MgA. Židek Tomáš, Ph.D.Tomáš Židek (born 1981) graduated from Grammar School Chrudim and Pardubice Conservatory, where he studied viola, organ and mainly conducting. He continued in his studies at Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where he graduated with Master’s Degree in 2009 and continues in pursuing doctoral degree. In 2005 he took part at master course conducting workshop with professor M. Stringer in Austria. He has cooperated with a number of Czech orchestras, including the Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra Zlín, the North Czech Philharmonic Teplice, the Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice, the Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra of South Bohemia and the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra. He also conducted opera in the F. X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec. Currently, he teaches at the Conservatory of Pardubice (since 2009), leads the University Choir of Pardubice (since 2010), the Salvator Choir in Chrudim (since 1999) and is the Choir Director in Chrudim. He cooperates with the Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice and the Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Natalia Chirilenco comes from Moldova. She studied music lyceum and devoted herself to piano and choir conducting. Later she graduated from the Academy of Music (at a particular time called also University od Arts) in Chisinau (Moldova), majoring in choir conducting. Since 1999 she has been living in the Czech Republic. She received university qualifications certificate at the Janáček Academy of Music in Brno. In 2000 – 2005 she was conducting the mixed choir Schola Cantorum in Prostějov. In 2004 – 2006 she was working with the mixed choir Lumír in Brno. Since 2003 she has been conducting preparatory choirs at the Jaroslav Kvapil Primary Art School in Brno, where she has also been conducting the children’s choir Primavera. At present she is on parental leave.

was born in Opava, in the 80's he played in the Ostrava groups Athabasca and Rozkol. In 1985, he founded and led the group Tyrkys (Turquoise), which won the Porta competition in 1988. In the summer of 1989 moved to the United States of America, where in 1992 he won the prestigious all American mandolin competition with an international participation, the 'Winfield Mandolin Championship'. He recorded nine solo CDs, worked as a studio player on more than 60 other CDs, and invented a special mandolin technique in which the mandolin sounds like two. He collaborates in concert and studio with players of the new acoustic music scene such as Béla Fleck, Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Mike Marshall, Jerry Douglas, Stanley Jordan and others. During his visit to Ireland in 1999, he also began playing traditional Irish flutes and gradually other flutes from around the world. Radim has appeared on the stages of many countries on all continents and regularly visits the Czech Republic, where, in addition to his solo performances, listeners had the opportunity to hear him in collaboration with players and groups such as: Druhá tráva, Buty, Čechomor, Jiří Stivín, Vlasta Redl, Hradišťan, The Eben Brothers, Vladimír Mišík, Vladimír Merta, Karel Plíhal, Waldemar Matuška, and in the TV shows Gejzír, Na plovárně, Noc s Andělem and others. He has arranged several compositions for flute and choir, which were performed at joint concerts with Bohemiachor in the Czech Republic and on tour in Ireland. At Bohemia Cantat, he was the assistant choirmaster and a performer in Kamila Zenkl's (sister-in-law) studio 'Music of the Six Continents' (2011) and in Michal Hájek's studio 'News from the Road' (2018). More information at www.zenkl.com.

You Tube - Radim and Bohemiachor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-T1dHGU-2g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE4DNU4dvEg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAwsafbRbDc

is a singer, multi-instrumentalist (guitar, violin, mandolin, bass, dobro), composer, lecturer, music director and organizer of music courses. He focuses mainly on acoustic music: bluegrass, folk, new acoustic. As a guitarist, he recorded two solo records (Ataman, 2014; Overtones, 2019) and won the title 'Guitarist of the Year' 5 times in the Poll of the Bluegrass Association of the Czech Republic. He has participated on more than 20 studio albums. As a singer and player with various groups, he won four times the prestigious European Band of the Year competition at the French La Roche Bluegrass Festival. He collaborated with important personalities of the world music scene, such as Mike Marshall, Dan Crary, Tony Furtado, Beppe Gambetta, Dale Ann Bradley, Steve Gulley, Cia Cherryholmes and Mike Compton among others.
Ondra is a sought-after lecturer and organizer of music courses. In most of them, he focuses on music theory and building of harmony vocals, emphasizing the practical use of the information obtained. The program includes rehearsals of joint songs, band coaching of smaller groups of participants and evening concerts. He had taught four times at the 'Gill's vocal workshop', where they focused directly on singing and everything related to it in the bluegrass, folk and country genres, such as basics of harmony, building, writing and rehearsal of three-part and four-part harmony singing, ear training and rhythmic exercises, vocal technique and warm ups, repertoire selection, phrasing, stage presence, analysis of selected recordings, etc.
Ondra is an author of several educational publications, he writes articles for musicians in his blog, and regularly creates content for his own educational platform 'ATAmusic online workshop'. He also records and publishes the 'ATAmusic Podcast' - Czech audio series for musicians.
Web, blog, music projects: www.ondrakozak.com
ATAmusic online workshop: www.atamusic.eu
Facebook: www.fb.me/ondra.kozak
Instagram: www.instagram.com/ondrakozak2

Zuzana Kadlčíková is one of the distinctive young choirmasters in the Czech Republic. She gained the essential choir experience in the Jitro Children's Choir (Prof. Jiří Skopal) in Hradec Králové. She graduated from the Faculty of Education of the University of Ostrava (music teacher and choirmaster for the Secondary Schools) and the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno (choirmaster and conductor). As a conductor she participated in many projects with the JAMU Chamber Opera and finished her studies by the performance of Eugene Onegin by P. I. Tchaikovsky.

She was a member of the Adash ensemble (doc. Tomáš Novotný) and worked as a corepetitor at the opera of the Antonín Dvořák Theater and at the Moravian Theater Olomouc. She received a scholarship at master conductor courses at Internationale Sommerakademie Reichenau in Austria.

As a choirmaster of the children and youth choir at the Brno Philharmonic, Kantiléna, she received the highest prize (Summa Cum Laude) at the choral competition in Neerpelt 2006. She also acted as a choirmaster and artistic director of the mixed choir Virtuosi di Mikulov, with whom she recorded several CDs of the world choral repertoire. She organized the International Choral Festival Kampanila in Mikulov as a dramaturgist.

She was awarded the Junior Choirmaster Award and founded the choir Ensemble Forte in Brno. She is regularly invited to the jury of various choral competitions.

In 2013 she debuted as a conductor at the Brno National Theater with the opera Dream of the Midsummer Night (B. Britten). In 2016–2018, she was the choirmaster of the Ars Brunensis Chorus in Brno, with which she won the 1st Prize at the A. Tučapský Festival (2017). For the last three years she has been working as a corepetitor at Brno City Theater, where she rehearses exclusively the musical repertoire. Since 2018 she has been an assistant to the choirmaster of the Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno. She privately teaches singing and improvisation.

I was born on December 31, 1975 in Pacov into a musical family. Soothed beside milk, beef soups and orange juice mainly by singing and playing myriad of musical instruments, I clung to the music art and I couldn't do anything else... maybe just to draw a little and write less comprehensible texts.
I learned singing in the Children's Choir with Čestmír Stašek, and besides my family, a great inspiration for me has been meeting with great musicians like Petr Šefl, Karel Loula and especially Miloš Bok.
So I spent my youth oscillating between Renaissance vocal polyphony, Bach's arias and glorious Romantic era.
I was lucky to be thrown into the class of prof. František Maxián, who taught me to play the piano.
A short trip to Frankfurt am Main turned into 24 year's stay. Irina Edelstein master piano class. Wolfgang Schäfer Choir, married to Karin Mayle and already torturing our four children with violins.
With my Czech-German choir “Frankfurt-Prague” we have been performing for 30 years bold programs from Bach to Stravinsky. I am also a conductor of the Main Kammerorchester and beside all that, I went crazy about Janáček... on “Nursery Rhymes”.

She started her professional career in the opera choir of the F.X Šalda Theater in Liberec, where she also performed her first small solo roles. Intensive study of singing led her to the National Theater ensemble in Prague, which brought her further professional experience. Since 1997 she also studied singing in Australia and subsequently in the USA.
Studying music at Oakland University and the University of Michigan has allowed her to study with the world's most important musicians and perform in a variety of opera and musical performances. She graduated from conducting under the leadership of Dr. Mike Mitchell and singing with Dr. Edith Diggory.
During her years in the United States, Lucie has also worked as a vocal soloist, private singing instructor and music school manager in Michigan. In 2006 she returned to the Czech Republic. Since 2010 she has started to cooperate with various ensembles as a voice coach and lecturer.
In early 2011, Lucie founded her own project, the Prague mixed choir Lucky Voice Band. Since its inception, it has grown substantially and has won several awards in various competitions.
In 2012-13 she took over the leadership of the Ignis Church Choir in Prague and from 2015 also the chamber choir Myšmaš.
At present, Lucie is mainly involved in the Musica Orbis Prague Festival, cooperates with various American singing ensembles and gives private singing lessons.

After graduation from the Faculty of Philosophy, Charles University (history, German studies, musicology) he has been working as assistant lecturer in music history and music regionalistics at the Department of Music Culture of the Faculty of Education in Plzeň since 2003. His main field of specialization is, however, music history of South-western Bohemia od the 17^th and 18^th centuries, with special focus on Klatovy and Plzeň.

Since 1995 he has been organist in St. Ignatius church at Klatovy, in 2014 he was appointed church choirmaster of the Klatovy parish. He studied historical organ and harpsichord playing in the class of  R. Hugo (2009-2010), H. Franke (2011) and M. Knoblochová (od 2012). Since 2014 he has been studying conducting in the class of Jiří Štrunc at the Plzeň Music Conservatory. Since 1996 he has been leading the chamber choir Collegium for Sacred Music, that focuses on compositions from regional archives. He also cooperates with the Chamber Orchestra of the Department of Music Culture and has been its leader since 2004. Since 2004 he has also been church choirmaster at Katholische Pfarrei Mariä Himmelfahrt at Bodenmais (D), and since 2010 he has been art director of Niederbayerisches Ärzteorchester at Deggendorf (D).

Since 2007 he has been organizer and dramaturge of the European festival of sacred music „Šumava-Bayerischer Wald“. He is chairman of the west-bohemian area of the Czech Choirs Association. Since 2013 he has been cooperating with the project European Culture Capital Plzeň 2015 (baroque line). In 2014 he organized the Czech part of the international music festival Musica Sacra in cooperation with the Munich Kulturstiftung EUROPAMUSICALE. In 2015 he is, among other things, preparing the world premiere of the Oratorio to the Holy Virgin of Klatovy by the composer Pavel Samiec from Plzeň. The world premiere will take place as part of the celebrations of the 330^th anniversary of the Klatovy Marian miracle (1685).

Kryštof Spirit has dedicated his professional life to classical music as a singer, choirmaster, conductor and musicologist. At present, he is the artistic director of the Ensemble Hilaris vocal ensemble, choirmaster of the Musica Oeconomica Pragensis choir at the University of Economics in Prague and editor of the Czech Radio D-dur station. As a conductor he values the most the opportunity to work with Prague Philharmonia (PKF) in a series of concerts and workshops for children, and as a singer his performances in opera projects of the National Theater – e.g. Curlew River by Benjamin Britten and Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi. His other activities include preparation of accompanying texts for concert programs or Czech Radio music programs. He also restores older musical works, arranges music and organizes interesting music projects. He takes pleasure in making music together with people who are good musicians and, especially, good people.

Jan Staněk (1952, Praha),

I have fallen for singing very long ago.

Originally informal meetings with friends, wine and guitar gradually gave birth to my first ensemble Kvintus (1981). Later I set up (already intentionally) Bohemiachor (1993),Happy Hours (1991) in Switzerland, Ayangena (1993) in Italy, Spektrum (2003) in Prague, and Hlahol (2010) in Austria as the last one. And this festival in Liberec also happens to be my child a bit.

In the beginning I did not realize what I was starting. I was a singing physicist and guitar player. I certainly did not expect to leave physics because of singing, nor to study choirmaster specialization and make my hobby a beautiful profession. Nor to tour Europe and lead choir workshops.

The wave of my enthusiasm about spirituals has been replaced by a folk song period (I loved especially gypsy folk songs), later I enjoyed 20th century music and recently I have been fascinated mostly by the choir sound itself. By the mystery of joining voices and achieving sound unity! I have been fascinated by overtone singing ever since I have first come across it years ago. Since then I have been trying it in my choirs. Especially with Spektrum we have been discovering the connection of overtone singing with the above mentioned mystery of choir sound recently. It is a great adventure.

Roman Válek is a graduate of the Janáček Academy of the Music and Performing Arts in Brno, where he studied the conducting of vocal & instrumental music. As a student, he completed H. Rilling's course in conducting on "Bachakademie" offered by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Included among his musical achievements in Europe are his collaborations with eminent conductors J. Bělohlávek, G. Albrecht, R. Gandolfi, T. Shimada, G. Gelmetti, F. Bruggen, as well as the most prominent Czech choirs. He has performed with many vocal and instrumental groups, including the Brno Academic Choir, Ars Brunensis Chorus, Madrigal Quintet Brno, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Choir of the National Theatre Opera in Prague and Brno, Chamber Orchestra of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra - Musica Aeterna, Brno Chamber Orchestra, B. Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra Zlín, North Bohemian Philharmonic Orchestra Teplice, and The Group Hradišťan.

(* 6. 1. 1965 in Prague)

David  Eben was born in Prague in 1965.  After graduation from clarinet studies at Prague’s conservatory, he took up musicology at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague. Already during his studies, he specialized in medieval music, mainly in Gregorian chant. In 1991 he graduated from Paris conservatory (Conservatoire Nationale Superieur de Musique de Paris) the program Conducting of Gregorian chant, and in the following year he worked as a conductor of the ensemble Choeur gregorien de Paris. Then he also often visited the Solesmes monastery, a centre of research in Gregorian chant, with the view of studying and consulting.

Besides his scholarly work, David Eben is concentrating on the interpretation of Gregorian chant. In 1987 he founded the vocal ensemble Schola Gregoriana Pragensis (www.gregoriana.cz), which has been intensively recording and giving concerts in almost all European countries, Japan and Israel. The CDs of the ensemble have received a number of awards (Choc du Monde de le Musique, 10 de Repertoire, “Zlata Harmonie” - Golden Harmony Award for the best Czech recording of the year).

Since 1993 he works at the Institute of Musicology of Charles University where he lectures on topics related to Gregorian chant and liturgy. From 2008 to 2013 he worked as professor of Gregorian chant at the University of Lucerne (Switzerland). He regularly tutors in summer courses on theory and practice of Gregorian chant in France, Switzerland and Belgium.

Dr. Tomáš Novotný graduated from Prague Conservatory in Composition, Orchestral Conducting, and French Horn Performance. He also graduated from the Evangelical Faculty in Prague where he obtained a doctorate in the Old Testament in Hebrew Wisdom Literature. He uses all of his excellent qualifications cohesively through his direction of and involvement in the Adash choir. Currently, he teaches with the Faculty of Arts at Ostrava University.

Vocal ensemble Adash

The vocal ensemble Adash has been developed from a unique course of Hebrew, taught at Ostrava University by Dr. Tomáš Novotný. Because he uses Hebrew songs to teach the Hebrew language, the course is titled 'Hebrew Through Songs'. In Hebrew: Ivrit Derekh Shirim. The ensemble has derived their name from this title 'Hebrew Through Songs'; the name Adash is the acronym of the three Hebrew words. When in 1999 the students showed publicly for the first time the songs they used for learning Hebrew, the demand was so great that they were invited to perform many real concerts. As a result of this, Adash has performed several hundreds of concerts in less than ten years of existence. From Europe to the USA, from concert halls to churches, from parliament to synagogues. One of the highlights for this group is the concert they performed at the prestigious International Music Festival Prague Spring in 2004. At present Adash often gives its concerts in cooperation with the klezmer band Naches. 

Michal Hájek was born in Hustopeče in 1982. His first steps in music lead to the piano. In 2003 he graduated from the Prague Conservatory in the class of Prof. Eva Boguniová. He also studied conducting at the Prague Conservatory, his teachers were Miriam Němcová, Hynek Farkač and Miroslav Košler. In 2007 he earned a bachelor’s degree at Charles University in Prague majoring in church music conducting. In 2012 he finished his studies of conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.

Michal Hájek worked as a répétiteur for the ballet in the National Theatre, as an assistant choirmaster in the Prague Philharmony Choir, he also conducted the Prague Mixed Choir and the Mixed Choir Jasoň. He attended choirmaster courses lead by Johannes Prinz, Ragnar Rasmussen, Anders Eby, Tonu Kaljuste and Gustav Sjökvist. In 2011 he won an international conducting competition in Budapest. He is choirmaster of Bohemiachor, and of the vocal ensemble Oktet, together with Sylva Mafková. With both these ensembles he has won both Czech and international competitions. Apart from classical programmes he has presented a number of inter-genre projects.

Alfons Brandl studied music education and choir conducting at Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich, and musicology at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität. Before the end of his studies he had developed growing inclination to solo singing, and therefore followed up with private studies with prof. Margret Langen, and later with Ingrid Bettag.

He has been singing tenor in the world-famous vocal ensemble “Die Singphoniker” for more than 25 years, having participated in many concerts in Germany as well as abroad, he has recorded over 30 CD’s, among others all male choirs by Franz Schubert, which amounts to approx. 100 pieces. He has attached theoretical comments to most of them.

He is no more an active member from July 2008, but he continues his solo performances of ancient music, especially oratories by Bach, Mozart, Haydn and Händel. His repertoire includes also the role of Swan in Orff’s Carmina Burana, that he has performed more than fifty times (among others together with the Symphonieorchester des BR orchestra under the baton of Riccardo Muti.

Last but not least, his recitals include song performances.

Apart from his singing career he also devotes himself to teaching. From 1997 he was associate professor of choir conducting at Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg-Augsburg/Abteilung Augsburg, since 2006 he has been teacher at Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg. That is where he was conferred the degree of professor. From 2009 to 2015 ha was vice-president of this music institution, and from 2001 to 2012 he was member of the  Bayerischen Musikrates presiding committee. From 2005 to 2012 he presided the Bayerischer Sängerbund committee, where he has remained active member up to now.

In 1999 he was invited to the 5th World Symposion on Choral Music in Rotterdam, in Summer 2001 he directed the choir studio at the international chamber choir competition in Marktoberdorf. Since January 2002 he has been leading the Augsburger Vokalensemble, and since 2003 also the Kammerchor des Bayerischen Sängerbundes.

As a conductor he worked with the orchestras Münchner Symphoniker, das L‘Orfeo Barockorchester, La Banda, Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie, and others. Alfons Brandl is member of juries at various choir competitions, and also member of the artistic committee and jury of the prestigious competition Deutscher Chorwettbewerb.

Miriam Němcová began her conductor’s career at the age of sixteen with non-professional choirs (the choirs ROSA and VUS UK, the Quattro corde chamber choir). After graduating from the Prague Consevratory of Music – majoring in composition and conducting (among others with the conductor Václav Neumann) – she has cooperated with professional choirs: Suk’s Chamber orchestra, the Karlovy Vary symphony, the Hradec Králové Philharmonic, the Czech Radio Choir, and the Prague Philharmonic Choir. From 1987 to 1988 she was scholar of the Czech Philharmonic with Prague Madrigalists, and several times she has been scholar at the Bach-Akademie in Stuttgart with prof. H. Rilling. After her return from the study visit to Paris (1989) she worked in Prague Chamber Opera and in F. X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec, where she obtained the post of director in 1991 after her one-year stint with the Karlovy Vary symphony. After a successful production of Verdi’s Othello in Antonín Dvořák Theatre in Ostrava she was offered the post of conductor and choirmaster in the State Opera in Prague in 1993. Since 1995 Miriam Němcová has been teaching conducting and at the same time directing the symphonic orchestra at the Prague Conservatory of Music. Besides that she keeps performing at concerts both in our country and abroad.

JIŘÍ HOLUBEC was born in 1959. He graduated from the Faculty of Pedagogy in Ústí nad Labem, specializing on choir conducting under the leading of Prof. Tomáš Fiala. Later he studied music theory at the Music faculty of the Academy of Arts in Prague. In 2002 he obtained doctor´s degree there. Since 1984 he has been teaching music education at the Faculty of Pedagogy in Ústí nad Labem. He is member of the academic council at the Music Theory Institution of the Academy of Arts in Prague. In 2007 he was appointed as a university professor.

He was choirmaster of the Faculty of Pedagogy Mixed Choir in Ústí nad Labem. In 1989 he set up - together with prof. Josef Říha - the university choir Chorea academia, in 1993 he became choirmaster of the Děčín choir. He worked as choirmaster also in Mannheim in Germany and at the conservatory in Teplice. He is artistic director and arranger of Bigband Bonit.

He participated in concerts and festivals in most European countries and in the USA, where he conducted the Chorea Academica choir during its debut in 1996. In 2004 he conducted the choir of the sbor State University of New York in Cortland and performed and premiered pieces by both Czech and foreign composers. He works also as a composer and arranger, he taught arranging at the Charles University in Prague.

In 2003 he became director of the International Symposium of choir singing Cantus choralis, organized regularly by the university in Ústí nad Labem. He is member of the preparatory committee of the International Symposium Cantus choralis Slovaca that takes place at the Matej Belo University in Banská Bystrica.

Ing. Libor Sládek\' s original profession is civil engineer. He studied at the faculty of building of the Czech Technical University and spent three years working in an architectural office. Then he started teaching special constructional subjects at the grammar school Na Zatlance in Prague, and after the revolution in 1989 he taught also mathematics and music. Since 1994 he has been teaching at the new Jaroslav Heyrovský\'s grammar school in Prague. At present he conducts three mixed choirs with varied repertoires (Besharmonie, Mix, Bohemiachor). In 2000 he won the public enquiry for the most popular teacher in the Czech Republic, the Golden Amos. In 2001-2004 he completed studies of church choir conducting and in 2007 he graduated from music and choir conducting at the Charles University under the direction of professor Mátl.

I have been occupied with music since the age of two, when – as witnesses say – I knew about ten songs. I have no proof, however, because my parents made no recording, and I have forgotten all of the songs. When I was six, my mother decided I would become a singer, and enrolled me for singing and piano. I did not like either, but thanks to my teacher Marie Urbanová I stuck to singing at least, and in the end surprised myself, when I received my Bachelor of Music at Pardubice Conservatory of Music, where music slowly became my hobby. It was thanks to Miroslav Raichl and prof. Svatava Šubrtová, first of all. During my studies I began conducting choirs. Shortly after the fall of communism I left for the U.S.A with one-way ticket, self-conscious and naïve. After a lot of adventure I received my degree in choir and orchestra conducting at the University of Northern Colorado, where I enrolled on the recommendation of Garrick Ohlsson. I have then been conducting choirs in America for 20 years, mostly at Hartwick College in New York, where I was Chair of the Music Department and Director of Hartwick College Choral Institute, and Catskill Choral Society. During my busy career I conducted students‘ choirs, amateur and professional choirs in Europe, Northern and Southern America, Asia and Africa. After twenty years of activity I decided for quieter life in nature in Toscana, where I live with my wife Markéta and my two-year-old son Adam. I produce organic olive oil and devote myself to permaculture. Choir conducting remains my joyful hobby.

Mgr. Jiří Slovík currently works at MGO, Department of Music at the J.E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem.

In 1995, he established and the Opava Student’s Choir Luscinia, which he still conducts to present day. This choir soon became one of the best, not only in the Czech Republic.  It has received praise and awards at international choir competitions, e.g. Middlesbrough and Llangollen in Great Britain, Cantonigros in Spain, Ankara in Turkey, Celje in Slovenia, etc.

Up until 2009, he worked as a conductor of the school choir and chamber choir at Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava. The chamber choir, KomoraCZECH, won the international festival Young 2004 Prague, where Jiří Slovík also received an award for his conducting. The choir was also victorious in this competition in 2007.

At present, he also conducts the Choral Society of Silesian Teachers; he founded and now heads the Janáček Symphonic Choir associated with the Janáček Symphonic Orchestra in Ostrava, Con Moto Slovakia and a choir under the Department of Music at J.E. Purkyně Univesity.

He established and conducted the  VENTUS Girls’ Choir in Krnov, which placed 1^st at Iuventus Mundi Cantat in Olomouc in 1997, received 1^st place twice in Middlesbrough 1995 and 1^st place during the Prague Choir Days in 1996. In the past, he conducted the children’s choir Červený květ in Opava, which placed 2^nd at Iuventus Mundi Cantat in Olomouc and 5^th in Arezzo, Italy.

He is a member of international competition juries in Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic, he is the co-founder of the choral festival Opava Cantat and of the international youth choir Silesia Cantat.

Jiří Slovík graduated from the Ostrava University, where he had studied under the lead of prof. Lumír Pivovarský.

In 2006, he was awarded for his life-long creative work by the then president of the Czech Republic, Václav Klaus.

born on 22 November, 1994 at Ústí nad Orlicí, grew up at Česká Třebová in an inspiring music environment of her parents, the violinist, conductor, and pianist Bohuslav Mimra, and Miluše Mimrová. Since her childhood she has been brought to music, especially to the piano, to movement art skills (gymnastics, ballet), as well as to theatre. Since 2010 she has been studying conducting at the Music Conservatory of Pardubice. She has passed her A levels at the class of Mgr. Jaroslav Brych and MgA. Tomáš Žídek Ph.D., who has become her supervisor in further studies. She continues her education in the piano class of Mgr. Pavlína Klokočníková. In January 2015 she passed entrance exams to the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.

As conductor she cooperates with Jaroslav Kocián’s Chamber Orchestra at her birthplace, and has performed extensive repertoire with it, e.g. Biblical Songs by A. Dvořák with the baritone Jaroslav Patočka. She also cooperates with the Symphony Orchestra of the Music Conservatory of Pardubice, with the Pardubice Chamber Orchestra, with the choir Salvator, and works as assistant to the chief conductor of VUS Pardubice. Apart from the piano, she also studies the violin and the organ.

Jana Mimrová took part in the conducting competition in Žilina in May, 2014, she took part in choir conducting classes in Hradec Králové lead by the choirmasters prof. J. Skopal and J. Surovík. For 15 years she has been regularly attending International Music Courses ČHS-SPKU at Litomyšl (or Bechyně, before that), piano courses lead by F. Malý, violin courses lead by M. Štrausová, and has set up her own choir. As choirmaster she has taken part in studying Dvořák’s Stabar Mater (PHJ, 2014).

In 1996 he set up the ensemble Picollo coro & Picolla orchestra and has been its director so far. The ensemble is regularly invited by the Czech Radio to participate in recording, by the Department of Composition at Academy of Music, and by the Association Přítomnost, to premiere new pieces. The ensemble was awarded the prize of the B.Martinů Foundation and in 2007 it won the main prize of Petr Eben at the International Festival of Advent and Christmas Music. Picollo coro & Picolla orchestra have also toured a lot abroad (Germany, Italy, Croatia). As part of the project "Faculty in the Heart of Karlov" organized by the 1st Faculty of Medicine, they have realized great oratorios, e.g. Handel\'s Messiah, Mozart\'s Requiem, Mendelssohn\'s Elias, Dvořák\'s Stabat Mater, Poulenc\'s Stabat Mater, etc.

MgA. & Mgr. Marek Valášek, Ph.D. (1969) graduated from the Prague Academy of Music majoring in conducting and has obtained doctor degree. During his studies he was engaged by the Municipal theatre in Ústí nad Labem. In 2002 - 2006 he was choirmaster in the State Opera in Prague, where he - apart from his choirmaster\'s work - also conducted the opera La Boheme by R.Leoncavallo. In 2002 he won the first prize in conducting competition at the festival Young stage for a concert with the Czech Philharmonics. In 2005 he performed the oratorio Ecce Homo by Jan Hanuš in the Czech premiere at the festival Prague Spring. In November 2005 he recorded Hanuš\'s I. symphony with the Czech Radio Symphonic Orchestra. In 2006 he was as guest in Vilnius (Lithuania) and Kyoto (Japan). Re cooperates with the Hradec Králové Philharmonics on regular basis, he is invited to lead choirmaster courses and to work in juries in choir competitions. He teaches at the theory department of the Prague Conservatory of Music and is choirmaster of all Conservatory choirs. Since 2002 he has been teaching choirmaster specialization at the Faculty of Pedagogy at Charles University in Prague.

Conductor, violoncellist, choirmaster, and composer Marek Štryncl (born 1974 in Jablonec nad Nisou) held the position of concert soloist in the North Bohemian Philharmonic already while a student at the conservatory in Teplice. He graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (AMU) in 2002 in the field of conducting, he studied cello at the Dresdner Akademie für alte Musik, and participated in many courses in authentic performance practice in Chinon, Mainz, Basel, Valtice, and elsewhere.
As a conductor and choirmaster he cooperated with famous chamber and symphonic orchestras, choirs, ensembles, and soloists, such as Magdaléna Kožená, Phillipe Jaroussky, The New Israeli Vocal Ensemble, Boni Pueri, the Orlando Consort, the Prague Chamber Choir, Les Musiciens du Paradis, and the Prague Philharmonic. His repertoire includes works from the early baroque to the Romantic period, as well as contemporary compositions.
As a result of  his interest in authentic performance, Štryncl set up the Musica Florea ensemble in 1992. With Musica Florea he revives the work of forgotten composers, especially from the Czech baroque and classical periods. He prepares the ensemble’s regular concert series in Prague and in other regions of the Czech Republic, and has initiated the unique theatre project of mobile baroque stage called Florea Theatrum. He plays the cello both as a soloist and in chamber ensebmles, and also occasionally composes. He has appeared at prestigious festivals, such as the Prague Spring, Rezonanzen in Vienna, the Festival van Vlaanderen in Brugge, the Tage alter Musik in Sopron, the Tage alter und neuer Musik in Regensburg, Strings of Autumn, and Concentus Moraviae. He has made dozens of compact disc recordings, many of which have received top awards: Diapason in 1994, Zlatá Harmonie in 1997, and a Cannes Classical Award in 2003. He does not avoid even alternative projects - e.g. cooperation with the singer Iva Bittová (Vladimír Godár, Mater, EMC, 2007), or the project of romantic symphonic music played on period instruments (works by Antonín Dvořák, Arta Records, 2009).
At present he is teaching conducting, choir conducting, church music conducting, and baroque cello at Charles University and at specialized courses and workshops (e.g, the International School of Ancient Music at Valtice, Bohemia Cantat in Liberec, Convivium, Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Janáček’s Academy of Performing Arts in Brno, etc.).

Chuhei Iwasaki was born in 1987 in Tokio. He graduated from the Conservatory Toho gakuen in Tokio and now he is studying at the Prague Conservatory in the classes of prof. M. Košler and M. Němcová. From October 2013 he will study at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.

He has cooperated with The Museum of Antonín Dvořák, with Czech Television, with the boys’ choir Pueri Gaudentes and with Václav Havel’s foundation Vize 97.

In 2010 je set up the student ensemble Young Chamber Orchestra Prague, and since 2011 he has been chairman of the jury at the international choir competition Praga Cantat.

Lukáš Prchal (*1980) graduated from the conducting class of prof. Hynek Farkač at the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory of Music. Since, however, he has grown-up in the Prague Children Choir, he has specialized in choir conducting. In 2002 he took over the mixed choir Mikrochor from Čestmír Stašek, since 2003 he has been the artistic director of the a cappella female vocal group Brécy (www.brecy.info), where he also represents the bass-percussion section as beatboxer. Although he has already as a child taken in the fact that being a choirmaster in a children choir is a purgatory, he has not escaped this experience and has conducted the children choir Chorus Angelus. As an arranger he specializes in a cappella non-artificial music. He is a covert trumpet player and overt piano hater. He has participated in choir conducting courses with prof. Wolfgang Schäfer in Germany. He has introduced several premieres, and together with Ester Kočičková and Petr Wajsar he has been performing the great choir vocal-dance music project Mandelbrot's cubes. He avowedly enjoys frequent cooperation with pop, rock, punk and metal music artists and performers (Michal Pavlíček, the Czech version of Pink Floyd: The Wall, Už jsme doma, Atari Terror, 4th Face...).

Robert Hugo has been considered an expert in the 17th century Czech music already for years. His personality is a combination of interpretation artistry (he is a soloist and a conductor), deep theoretical knowledge and almost twelve-year practice in reconstructing old manuscripts that resulted in a number of new premieres of pieces by old masters.

R.H. has begun his professional music career after graduating from the Faculty of Science of the Charles University in Prague. He finished his music theory studies at the Faculty of Music of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where he was at the same time studying organ in the classes of Prof. Milan Šlechta and Prof. Jaroslav Tůma. He also studied harpsichord as a pupil of Helmut Franke and John Toll. His most important teachers of ancient music are on his opinion Marcin Szczycinsky, the art director of the ensemble Bornus Consort Warszawa, and Dr. Holger Eichhorn, the founder and art director of the ensemble Musicalische Compagney Berlin.

Since 1991 Robert Hugo has worked as organist in the University church of St. Salvator in Klementinum in Prague. He regularly teaches at the Ancient Music Summer School in Valtice. He lectures on music theory at the Sacred Music University in Görlitz.

R. H. has cooperated with renowned ensembles such as Musicalische Compagney Berlin, Pro Cantione Antiqua London, Bornus Consort Warszawa, and soloists such as Magdalena Kožená, Simon Standage or Jiří Stivín. He has been a conductor in the Janáček Theatre in Brno. As a soloist he specializes in historical organs and South German keyboard instruments. He gives concerts in many European countries - most of all in the Czech Republic, in Germany and in Poland.

Robert Hugo is well-known for his research on the field of Czech and southern German music. He lectures and publishes his works. His activity has culminated in a number of discoveries and new premieres of pieces by baroque masters, such as J.D.Zelenka, G.Carissimi and Adam Michna.

Rev. Raymond Wise, Ph.D., began his musical career at the age of three, singing gospel music with his family singing group "The Wise Singers." He was educated through the Baltimore City Public School System and graduated second out of class of 500 from the Paul Laurence Dunbar Community High School in 1979. He then went on to Denison University (Granville, Ohio) where he reorganized the Black Student Union Choir, started the Black Student Union Ensemble and Dance Company, and earned a B.F.A. in Music. Rev. Wise was awarded a Graduate Fellowship from the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio where earned his Masters in Music Education and Ohio Teacher's Certification. In addition he also completed a Doctorate in Music Education at the Ohio State University for which his dissertation topic is "Defining African American Gospel Music by Tracing its Historical and Musical Development from 1900 to 2000."

Raymond Wise has directed more than 30 choirs during his career and has prepared choirs to perform for national recording artists such as Kenny Rogers, Diana Ross, Yolanda Adams, Tramaine Hawkins, Wintley Phipps, and others. Wise served as the Chorus Master for the world premiere of the Opera Columbus Production of Leslie Burr's "Vanqui" and Assistant Chorus Master for the Opera Columbus Production of "Aida".

As a composer Wise has penned more than 500 compositions that have been performed and recorded by local, national, and international recording artists. Some of his notable works include “Afro-American Suite” written for Bass-Baritone and Chorus. Wise co-wrote the script for “God What Color Is Trouble” with director Ron Pitts and has written the music for more than 20 original musical theater productions, including Dwight Collin’s “Dark Symphony,” the Samuel S. Davis production of “The Snow Queen,” and the Amera-flora production of “Listen With Your Heart.” He also composed the musical score for the children’s opera “Barefoot.”

In 2003 Dr. Wise released the Raymond Wise Choral Sheet Music Series, through which more than 100 of his Gospel, Spiritual, and Choral arrangements are available. In 2004 he released an anthology of Spirituals entitled 21 Spirituals for the 21st Century that features 21 of his concert spiritual arrangements. This collection has been praised and performed by choirs all across the nation. Since releasing the 21 Spiritual's collection Dr. Wise has received commissions to compose original works for the Penn State University Spiritual's Festival, The American Spiritual's Ensemble and the Hartwick College International Choral Festival, which was held in honor of Moses Hogan in Prague in summer of 2008. Raymond Wise is knows locally thanks to Hartwick College where he led to gospel festivals in 2008 and 2009.

Raise established The Center For The Gospel Arts in 1989 to provide educational training for gospel artists and the community. He has developed specialized curriculums in the gospel arts and texts for this school, which offers numerous classes per week, and has served over 5000 since its opening.
Rev. Wise presently instructs courses in Gospel Music and conducts Gospel ensembles at The Ohio State University, Denison University, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, and the Columbus School for Girls.

In 1993 he set up the choir of the J.K.Tyl Grammar School, in 1996 he began conducting the Chamber Choir Kantiléna and helped to set up the Hradec Králové Men\'s Choir. In 1999 he realized his great dream and set up the boys\' choir Bonifantes in Pardubice. He has obtained many prizes for extraordinary conducting performance and dramaturgy. During a short period he won 16 gold medals (e.g. with the Hradec Králové Men\'s Choir at the 1st world choir Olympics in Linz, Austria) and 13 silver medals at various international competitions.

As a composer Jan Míšek specializes in cantatas (Inter Arma Silent Musae, Girl with Matches) and in theatre music (Kidnapping or Red-and-white Comedy). In 2008 his piece Hachnisini Takhat Kenafech won the second prize at the International Joseph Dorfman composer\'s competition. In 2003 he was awarded the price Choirmaster Junior by the Czech Choirs Association. Jan Míšek is also editor and mastermind of the Czech internet server for choir art SBOR.CZ. He is respected among experts for interpretation of 20th century music, at present he engages also in authentic interpretation of ancient music. Apart from choirmaster he is also an orchestra conductor.

He has worked with many Czech as well as foreign orchestras. In 1996 he set up Malostranský komorní sbor (The Prague Lesser Town Chamber Choir), he also participated in setting up and is conducting Pocket Opera Prague. Since 2006 he has been conductor in the National Theatre. At present he also conducts the Czech Student Orchestra which has been - for two years already - giving a cycle of concerts for young people Four Steps into the New World.

His pieces are performed at many concerts and festivals at home as well as abroad, he frequently composes music for theatre, film or radio plays. Many of them have been recorded by the Czech or foreign radio stations.

In his artistic career, he pursues both singing and conducting. Since 1992, he has been the leader of the mixed-voice choir Praľští pěvci (Prague Singers - see www.prazstipevci.cz), which he himself established and which has won numerous prizes at international competitions (e.g. two first prizes from Jersey 2002). The choir focuses on preparing world premieres of contemporary works (such as the multi-spatial oratorio "Lux mirandae sanctitatis" by Mark Kopelent). The most recent recording by Praľští pěvci is a collection of 3 compact discs with the complete set of Antonín Dvořák\'s choir pieces and duets, prepared for the Dutch publishing house Brilliant Classics. In 2004, Stanislav Mistr led the master class focused on 20th century choral music (Mass in G major by F. Poulenc) at the 1st year of Convivia classes in eliv.

He is a member of the Prague Philharmonic Choir, with which - as a guest choirmaster - he prepared, among others, Bach\'s Mass in H minor for the festival in Ravenna. Besides that, he is a member of several other ensembles, such as Gutta Musicae, male-voice choir Fraternitas literatorum, and the French ensemble Doulce memoire, all focusing on old music.

Stanislav Mistr also devotes to teaching and - being a skilled multi-instrumentalist - to non-artificial music.

During those 20 years of composing, she has created over 300 songs for various types of choirs. With unique mastery and passion, she arranges Jewish, Moravian, Latvian and other East European folk songs.

Sylke Zimpel has won a number of prizes in competitions for composers of choir music.
"...Composing and conducting a choir are two inseparable activities. From practice I know very well how a song can sound, what will work and what is feasible, yet I also like to experiment with my choirs all the time. When composing a choir piece, I do my best to refine each voice so perfectly as if it were an independent melody."

He freelanced as a conductor with the Swedish Radio Choir, the Eric-Ericson Chamber Choir, the WDR Radio Choir Cologne, the NDR Radio Choir Hamburg etc., with Stockholms Sinfonietta and the Russian Chamber Philharmonic St. Petersburg and others.

Since 2001 Steffen Schreyer holds a professor\'s chair in choir conducting at the Catholic College of Church Music St. Gregorius in Aachen (Germany). He is the musical director of the College\'s Chamber Choir.

Her father, Koloman Bitto, was an outstanding and very well known Gypsy musician. After graduation from Janáčkova Music Academy in Brno, she started performing in Na Provázku Theatre.

In 1982 she moved to Wales, where she started giving concerts and later teaching Gypsy songs.
Everybody can sing! There is an unbelievable power in each of us and singing can release this power, says Ida, and her singing doesnt let anybody hesitate about her words.

In 1995 she returned home for good and settled down in Bystré in Českomoravská vysočina. She founded International School of Human Voice there and she continues with the work she started in Wales. Her courses are inspired by her own experience and her eastern, gypsy origin. Several documentary films have already been made about her work. In 1998, she and her partner Desiderius Duľda founded a Gypsy music group called Romano Rat (Gypsy Blood), which gives concerts all over the world.

Source: www.kelarova.com