Biography
The world renowned orchestra has been founded (1976) and led by conductor and violinist Oldřich Vlček.
The Orchestra has a wide repertoire, consisting of the works of Vejvanovský, Mozart, Mysliveček, Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Rossini, Stravinski, Grieg, Elgar, Roussel as well as the works of 20th century world music and also has the courage to support the contemporary works of Czech composers.
The orchestra worked under the batton of V. Neumann, A. Rahbari, Ch. Benda, N. Athinaios, P. Schreier, P. Meyer H. Griffiths, H. Rilling , J. Swoboda etc.
Since 2000 the Italian conductor Alfonso Scarano has been Principal Guest Conductor.
The list of soloists with whom the orchestra has had the pleasure to play includes such renowned names as Placido Domingo, José Cura, Barbara Hendricks, Mstislav Rostropovich, Igor Oistrach, Pavel Kogan, Mario Brunello, Sergej Krylov, Alexander Toradze, M. Vyskvorkina etc.
Virtuosi di Praga cooperate very often also with prominent Czech choirs, like Prague Philharmonic Choir or Prague Chamber Choir and perform together such compositions like Haydn's Creation, Händel's Messiah, Acis and Galatea, Bach's Mass in B, St. John Passion etc.
There are over 200 CDs that the orchestra has recorded and produced for various labels including Supraphon, Orfeo, Discover, Claves and Koch International and is holder of two platinum Discs from Supraphon for the most successful recordings in the field of classical music and Gold Discs from the Discover, Lupulus and Supraphon companies.
The orchestra has regularly 10 - 15 concerts per year in Prague, about 30 in Czech and Slovak Republic and about 40 - 50 guest performances in European countries (Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, Austria, Belgium, Holland, France) in Japan, Australia, USA and Latin America. Virtuosi completed very successful tour to South America in June 2016
Orchestra is regular performer at the major Czech music festival - Prague Spring. It is the residential orchestra of INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL PONTES.