Vojtěch Jouza

He studied at the Prague Conservatory with Professor František Xaver Thuri and continued with Professor Jiří Mihule at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague where he later also graduated from conducting.

He founded the Prague Baroque Ensemble in 1982 and plays the oboe in the orchestra besides being its artistic manager and conductor. In 1995, he founded the chamber choir En Arché and became its choirmaster and conductor. He took over the singing choir Česká píseň based in Plzeň in 2009. He is also the founder of Vladimír Sommer Chamber Orchestra (2017) and Camerata 2018. As a baroque oboe player, he collaborates with the old music ensemble Capella Regia Praha.

As a conductor, he has collaborated with top Czech and Slovak orchestras and choirs, including the Czech Philharmonic, PKF – Prague Philharmonia, State Philharmonic Košice, Prague Chamber Choir, Kühn Mixed Choir, Martinů Voices, Talich Chamber Philharmonic, South Czech Chamber Philharmonic České Budějovice, Pardubice Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Plzeň Philharmonic and Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also been the co-author and the conductor of successful Czech Philharmonic education programmes “Penguins in the Rudolfinum”. In 2015–2017, he was the assistant to Czech Philharmonic chief conductor Jiří Bělohlávek. In the 2016/2017 season, he assisted with preparing the Tchaikovsky recording project of Decca recording company with chief conductor Semyon Bychkov.

He regularly teaches at interpretation courses (Summer Religious Music School Convivium, Summer Bassoon Academy). He has been the dramaturge of the international music festival Plzeň Autumn since 2018. He has recorded music by Jan Dismas Zelenka in 1993, featuring the first Czech recording of six trio sonatas for two oboes, bassoon and continuo.

He likes 20^th century music (Igor Stravinsky, Leoš Janáček, Bohuslav Martinů, Béla Bartók, Second Viennese School, Alfred Schnittke), the turn of the 19^th and 20^th century (Gustav Mahler, Josef Suk), J. S. Bach, J. D. Zelenka but also jazz music.