ABOUT US
HISTORY
The Prague Chamber Soloists are the longest-running string orchestra of its kind in the Czech Republic. The violist of the Prague Symphony Orchestra stood at the birth of the ensemble in 1961, Prague FOK Hubert Šimáček and legendary conductor Václav Neumann. As the name of the orchestra chosen by them suggests, the ensemble was made up of musicians who had solo ambitions, but at the same time collaborated with leading Czech and foreign soloists and conductors of the time. Among the most important were violinists Josef Suk, Gidon Kremer, Václav Hudeček, flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal, harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková, conductor Libor Pešek. Over time, the cellist Václav Jírovec took over the artistic direction of the ensemble, and after 2001 the ensemble was led by violinists Petr Hůla and Bohuslav Matoušek.
During its existence, PKS has given concerts in the most prestigious concert halls in Europe, Japan and Canada, and has also performed at major music festivals. They collaborated on music programs for Czech Television and made a number of award-winning recordings.
PRESENT
The renewed premiere of PKS took place in 2013 as part of the Music Holidays festival, under the artistic direction of horn player and conductor Radek Baborák.
Over the next six years, the Prague Chamber Soloists introduced themselves to the audience of the St. Wenceslas Music Festival in Ostrava, the Lípa Musica International Music Festival - in 2017 at the closing gala evening with soloist Adam Plachetka and in 2018 in Bauzen, Germany. In December 2018, as part of the FOK chamber series concert, the premiere of Radek Baborák's composition "Orangerie" for oboe and strings was performed by the German oboist Clara Dent Bogányi, accompanied by PKS.
As part of the opening concert of the 2018/19 season, which took place in cooperation with TV Noe in the Basilica of St. Peter and Paul at Vyšehrad, Jan Mráček introduced himself for the first time as the concertmaster of the ensemble, as well as the soloist of the concert together with the violinists Josef Špaček and Václav Hudeček.
The current form of the ensemble consists of 16 string players who act as soloists, chamber musicians, concert masters and members of leading Czech orchestras - the Czech Philharmonic, the Prague Symphony Orchestra. Prague FOK, orchestra of the National Theater, SOČR, PKF - Prague Philharmonia and Czech Sinfonietta, professors of the Prague AMU and the Prague Conservatory.
PKS's repertoire consists of top works for string orchestra from the Baroque to the 20th century and contemporary music.
From the season 2022/23, the Prague Chamber Soloists become the residential ensemble of the Church of St. Simon and Judy, respectively. Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK .
PATRON PKS
Václav Hudeček, violinist