The Kühn Choir of Prague is one of the largest Czech choirs and has been part of the musical world for over 60 years. It devotes itself to the choral repertoire of all periods, and its activities include significant performances of contemporary music, performances of large vocal-instrumental works in collaboration with leading Czech orchestras and, last but not least, projects for the performance and recording of film music.
The choir takes its name from Pavel Kühn (1938–2003), an outstanding figure of the Czech choral tradition, who founded the ensemble in 1959.
The choir gradually established itself in concert halls and recording studios as a top ensemble focusing on a cappella works of Romanticism and on oratorio and cantata repertoire, which it has performed and continues to perform primarily in close cooperation with the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK and its conductors (V. Smetáček, Z. Košler, Z. Mácal, J. Bělohlávek, V. Válek, P. Altrichter, L. Pešek, M. Turnovský, S. Baudo and G. Delogu). The ensemble has also partnered with other prestigious symphonic ensembles, both domestic (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 foreign (Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, etc.).
In the 1980s the choir was invited to join several projects of the Nederlands Dans Theater, participating in performances by choreographer Jiří Kylián with music by I. Stravinsky, M. Ravel, L. Janáček, B. Martinů and P. Eben. The choir boasts a number of outstanding recordings spanning all style periods. These include the complete choral works of B. Martinů, the complete recording of Fibich’s Hippodamia trilogy, and Luboš Fišer’s opera Lancelot, among others.
The choir’s core activities have always included the recording of film music (e.g. Miloš Forman: The People vs. Larry Flynt or the music of Zdeněk Liška).
In 2009, the choir took part in the extensive two-year project Martinů Revisited, performing Bohuslav Martinů’s “Polička” cantatas at the Prague Spring Festival. A few months later, his Field Mass was performed at the festival Smetana´s Litomyšl.
Since 2014 the choir has been collaborating with the National Theatre Opera (D. Shostakovich: Orango, Antiforamlisticheskiy rajok, Michael Gordon/David Lang/Julia Wolfe: Lost Objects, B. Smetana: Libuše, G. Puccini: Turandot).
The performance of contemporary music has belonged and continues to belong to the domain of the choir. Already at its first concert in 1959, it premiered the cantata Mikeš from the Mountains by Bohuslav Martinů, which the composer dedicated to the ensemble. From the beginning of its existence to this day, the Kühn Mixed Choir has inspired the creation of numerous works by contemporary composers (Jan Novák, Václav Trojan, Luboš Fišer, Miloš Bok, Zdeněk Lukáš, Karel Růžička, Miloš Orson Štědroň, Jan Ryant Dřízal, Jakub Dvořáček, etc.). The choir also regularly collaborates with PARMA Recordings and records contemporary American choral music. Our recording of the piece Astronomia by Christopher Jessup won a silver medal (an award for "Outstanding Achievement") in the Global Music Awards 2023.
The choir is an active organizer and initiator of its own cultural events and thematic projects. These include an annual choral concert series that has run since 2009, and the Let’s Sing and Platform for Singing projects supported by Norwegian funds.
Choir conductors: The founder of the choir, Pavel Kühn, fundamentally shaped the choir's performance, as he worked with it continuously for nearly 45 years until his premature death. After Jan Rozehnal (2003–2006), Marek Vorlíček became a significant shaping conductor, leading the choir until 2017. Under his leadership, the choir studied a number of a cappella and vocal-instrumental works (Dvořák, Martinů, Händel, Haydn, Orff), produced CD recordings of compositions by contemporary Czech and foreign composers, and recorded for Czech Radio. From 2017 to 2022, the main conductor was Jaroslav Brych, with Lenka Navrátilová as the deputy conductor. From 2022 to 2025, the conductor was Jakub Pikla. Since 2025, the collaborating conductors are Zuzana Kadlčíková, Marek Vorlíček, Miriam Němcová, and Josef Surovík.