Karla Bytnarová (mezzo-soprano)

studied at the Conservatoire in Pardubice and in Richard Strauss Conservatoire in Munich. Between 1996-1997 she was a member of the Opera Studio in Bayerische Staatsoper. She has been a guest performer in Prague State Opera, in Südostbayerisches Städtetheater, in Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava and in Landestheater Coburg. She has performed at concerts in Canada, Italy, Spain, France, Austria, Germany, Poland, Turkey and Slovakia. She participated successfully in numerous singing competitions in the Czech Republic and abroad.

Tomáš Černý (bass)

at present one of the most outstanding Czech tenorists Tomáš Černý performs as a permanent guest soloist at both the National Theatre Opera in Prague and the Prague State Opera. Since 1997 he had studied with Prof. Jiří Kotouč and since 2002 with Prof. Svatava Šubrtová. After the Masterclass in 2006 with Prof. Margreet Honig he has been improving his voice performance with her. On opera stages, he has created a number of important roles of the Czech as well as world tenor repertoire. He was awarded the Czech prestigious Thalia 2000 for interpretation of a role of prince Su-Chong in the famous Lehar's Land of smiles and the Libuška Prize awarded in the framework of the Opera festival.

The Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno

has been established in 1990, and in spite of its brief history, it is already numbered among the best and most sought-after professional ensembles in Europe. The Choir focuses especially on the performance of oratorios and cantatas, and recently also on operatic repertoire of all periods. The ever-rising artistic level of the Choir finds reflection in its steadily increasing number of concert engagements, both in the Czech Republic and abroad (around 70-80 performances annually). The Choir has been appearing with all Czech and many prominent international orchestras and conductors and is a regular guest at international festivals. The Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno has recorded numerous CDs under eminent Czech and European labels and in broad international competition (3000 competing recordings) the Choir won two prestigious German awards ECHO KLASSIK 2007 - the title "Ensemble of the year 2007" for the recording of Motets by Anton Bruckner and the title "Recording of the year 2007" for the recording of oratorio Christus by Franz Liszt. The Choir's founder, artistic director and choir master is Petr Fiala, the assistant choirmaster is Jan Ocetek.

The Brno Philharmonic Orchestra

is the bearer of a great orchestral tradition, first established through the efforts of the young Leoš Janáček. Later, a student of Janáček, Břetislav Bakala, succeeded in forming a high-quality symphony orchestra at the Brno Radio, which served in 1956 as the foundation for today's Philharmonic. It has now become the centre of the Brno concert scene in the late 20th century. The artistic profile of the orchestra has been shaped by many excellent conductors; in addition to the work of resident conductors the orchestra has also hosted some of the world's greatest conductors. Today the Brno Philharmonic is, with its 110 musicians, one of the largest Central European orchestras. In the breath and quality of its activities it rivals the Prague orchestras, as well as the famous orchestras in nearby Vienna. The discography of the orchestra is now, after forty five years of studio work, quite extensive: it reflects, however, a general concentration on 20th century production and on Czech music as a whole, containing the complete symphonic works of several Czech composers (Janáček, Novák and Martinů). Especially noteworthy are works by Janáček recorded with Břetislav Bakala (posthumously awarded the Czech GRAMY CLASSIC´93), the operas of Bohuslav Martinů with Charles Mackerras, a CD "Menuhin Conducting Czech Music", the three-part collection of Janáček 's complete symphonic works with František Jílek (GRAMY CLASSIC '93) and two compact disks named "Unknown Janáček " with Leoš Svárovský.

Leoš Svárovský (conductor)

studied flute at the Prague Conservatory and conducting at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Art with Professor Václav Nemann. He started his profession as the assistant of Zdeněk Košler at the Prague National Theatre. In 1991 he was invited by Herbert von Karajan Foundation to cooperate with George Solti, Claudio Abbado and the Vienna Philharmonic during the festival Sommerspiele Salzburg. Since 2000 Leoš Svárovský has been teaching at the department of conducting of the Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in Prague. Currently he works in position of the chief-conductor with the Pardubice Chamber Philharmony (since 1997) and he is a honorary member of the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra. Between 2003 and 2005 he had been working as the artistic director and the chief-conductor at the Prague State Opera. Furthermore Svárovský cooperated with many excellent foreign orchestras.