Prague Philharmonic Choir • New York

One of the leading tenors today, Pavel Černoch regularly appears on the most important opera stages including Teatro alla Scala, Vienna, Paris, Dutch National Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Salzburg and Glyndebourne Festivals. A hugely versatile artist, he is particularly acclaimed for his interpretations of the Czech and Slavic repertoire but is equally at home in French and Italian roles. He works frequently with some of the world's most acclaimed conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Kirill Petrenko, Simon Rattle, Andris Nelsons, John Eliot Gardiner, Charles Dutoit and Semyon Bychkov.

Engagements in the 2022/2023 season include an anticipated role debut as Apollo in Romeo Castellucci’s new production of Daphne at Staatsoper Berlin, The Prince in Philipp Stölzl’s new production of Rusalka at the Dutch National Opera and at home in Prague, and Staatsoper Hamburg in the title role of Faust. In future seasons, Černoch makes his debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, and returns to the Opéra national de Paris, Wiener Staatsoper and Staatsoper Hamburg.

Recent successes include opening the season at Staatsoper Berlin with a role debut as Florestan Fidelio as well as performing some of his most beloved roles: Cavaradossi Tosca at Staatsoper Hamburg and The National Theatre Opera in Prague; Laca Jenůfa at Theater an der Wien; The Prince Rusalka in a new production by Christoph Loy at Semperoper Dresden and at home, in Prague; and Pinkerton Madama Butterfly, again in Hamburg.

As much at home on the concert platform, he appears regularly with leading orchestras like the Gewandhaus Orchestra, CBSO, Boston Symphony Orchestra and Bamberger Symphoniker. Recent concert appearances include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Prague Philharmonic, Rachmaninov’s The Bells with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Verdi’s Requiem at the Bergen Festival.

Černoch made his professional debut in his native city with Die Zauberflöte, followed by appearances in Prague, Riga, Cagliari, Athens, Graz and Wiener Volksoper. Černoch began singing as a child when he became a member of the famed Cantilena Chamber Choir. He studied at the Janáček Academy Brno and went on to continue his vocal studies in Italy with Paolo de Napoli, who remains his mentor today.

The Prague Philharmonic Choir (PPC), founded in 1935 by the choirmaster Jan Kühn, is the oldest professional mixed choir in the Czech Republic. Their current choirmaster and artistic director is Lukáš Vasilek, and the second choirmaster is Lukáš Kozubík.

The choir has earned the highest acclaim in the oratorio and cantata repertoire, performing with the world’s most famous orchestras. In this country, they collaborate regularly with the Czech Philharmonic and the Prague Philharmonia. They also perform opera as the choir-in-residence of the opera festival in Bregenz, Austria.

This season, they will appear at four choral concerts of their own, with programmes focusing mainly on difficult, lesser-known works of the choral repertoire. Again this year they will be devoting themselves to educational projects: for voice students, they are organising the Academy of Choral Singing, and for young children there is a cycle of educational concerts.

The choir has been honoured with the 2018 Classic Prague Award and the 2022 Antonín Dvořák Prize.

Lukáš Vasilek studied conducting and musicology. Since 2007, he has been the chief choirmaster of the Prague Philharmonic Choir (PPC). Most of his artistic work with the choir consists of rehearsing and performing the a cappella repertoire and preparing the choir to perform in large-scale cantatas, oratorios, and operatic projects, during which he collaborates with world-famous conductors and orchestras (such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Czech Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic, and the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic).

Besides leading the PPC, he also engages in other artistic activities, especially in collaboration with the vocal ensemble Martinů Voices, which he founded in 2010. As a conductor or choirmaster, his name appears on a large number of recordings that the PPC have made for important international labels (Decca Classics, Supraphon); in recent years, he has been devoting himself systematically to the recording of Bohuslav Martinů’s choral music. His recordings have received extraordinary acclaim abroad and have earned honours including awards from the prestigious journals Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, and Diapason.