Czech Chamber Music Society • Czech Double Reed Ensemble

The chamber choir EN ARCHÉ was founded by Vojtěch Jouza in 1995. It is comprised of amateur singers who are brought together by their enthusiasm for beautiful music from various stylistic periods. The choir focuses mainly on sacred music, and in its concerts performs alongside chamber ensembles (especially the Prague Baroque Ensemble) and orchestras (the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice, the North Bohemian Philharmonic Orchestra Teplice, the Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra).

In its repertoire, EN ARCHÉ focuses on music by baroque composers, complemented by works from the pre-Baroque period and the twentieth century (Benjamin Britten, Igor Stravinsky, Arvo Pärt, Leonard Bernstein). EN ARCHÉ has won a number of prizes in international competitions and frequently appears in concerts both in the Czech Republic and abroad (Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Belgium). In 2000 the choir recorded its first CD, František Xaver Thuri’s Stabat Mater and Requiem, featuring the Czech Madrigalists and the Prague Baroque Ensemble. It has appeared alongside the latter ensemble on another CD with the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi.

Vojtěch Jouza studied oboe at the Prague Conservatory in the class of František Xaver Thuri and subsequently at the Academy of Performing Arts in the class of Jiří Mihule. Later he also graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in conducting, which he studied with Tomáš Koutník, František Vajnar, Petr Vronský, Hynek Farkač, Josef Kuchaň, Leoš Svárovský, Charles Olivier-Munroe, Norbert Baxa, Jiří Chvála and Lubomír Mátl. Vojtěch Jouza gained valuable experience early in his youth, for example, as a member of Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester led by Claudio Abbado. While still a student at the Academy, he won a competition to become an English horn soloist of the Prague Symphony Orchestra (1989–1991).

When still at the Prague Conservatory, his interest in early music and chamber performance inspired Vojtěch Jouza to found the Prague Baroque Ensemble in 1982, which has been actively performing ever since and where he takes on the roles of oboist, artistic director and occasionally conductor, presenting many interesting projects. In 2007 he conducted his own reconstruction of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Mark Passion with the Baroque Prague Ensemble and the Prague Chamber Choir as part of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra concert series. In the following years, Vojtěch Jouza featured well- and lesser-known works within the concert series of the Prague Symphony Orchestra and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra such as Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Easter Oratorio and Magnificat; Missa Dei Patris by Jan Dismas Zelenka and Brockes Passion by Georg Philipp Telemann. In addition to numerous performances in the Czech Republic, the Prague Baroque Ensemble annually tours Japan.

As part of his other artistic activities, Vojtěch Jouza devotes himself to conducting choirs – in 1995 he founded the En Arché chamber choir where he is the choirmaster and conductor. In 2009, he became the choirmaster of the Česká píseň (Czech Song) Choir in Pilsen. In 2014, he was invited to teach at the Convivium International Summer School of Sacred Music as a choirmaster lecturer.

As a conductor, Vojtěch Jouza has collaborated with leading Czech and Slovak orchestras and choirs such as the Czech Philharmonic, PKF – Prague Philharmonia, Slovak State Philharmonic in Košice, Prague Chamber Choir, Kühn Choir of Prague, Martinů Voices, Talich’s Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra of South Bohemia, Pardubice Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra and Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra in Zlín. Together with the BERG Orchestra, Vojtěch Jouza staged two operas by Bohuslav Martinů, Comedy on the Bridge and The Marriage. As a co-creator and especially conductor he has been involved in the past seasons in successful educational programs of the Czech Philharmonic entitled “Penguins in the Rudolfinum”. In the years 2015–2017 he was Assistant to Chief Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, Jiří Bělohlávek. In the 2016/2017 season he was involved in preparation of the recording of Tchaikovsky’s compositions for Decca with Semyon Bychkov.