The Orchestra of Charles University in Prague
The great mystery of music-making requires real friendship among those who work together.
— Carlo Maria Giulini
About our orchestra
The Orchestra of Charles University in Prague is directed by chief conductor Haig Utidjian and conductor Kateřina Maňasová. It currently comprises over fifty members, consisting of Czech as well as visiting students and recent graduates, all sharing a common enthusiasm for orchestral music.
The Orchestra performs works by the great masters, including Czech composers, and our repertoire spans the whole spectrum from the baroque to the contemporary. We have recently performed pieces by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Rossini, Wagner, Dvořák, Smetana, Suk, Martinů, Iglo, Delibes, Fauré, Poulenc, Nielsen, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and others – in Prague as well as abroad.
Charity concerts
With our music-making we endeavour not only to give pleasure to our fellow students and our Alma Mater, but also to provide help where it is needed: thus, our activities include performances for worthy charitable causes. These have recently included benefit concerts for the Academic Parish of Prague, Prague’s Thomayer Hospital, and the Archa Foundation.
Musical collaboration
In many of our concerts we are joined by the Charles University Chorus and some of the finest young vocal soloists in the country. In addition, we collaborate with musicians from the Prague University of Economics, the Ladies of the Choir of the Faculty of Education, the Prague Singers and the City of Beroun Chorus. We also collaborate with other university ensembles in Europe and further afield, having done so with, amongst others, the University of Copenhagen Symphony Orchestra, Exeter Chamber University Orchestra, University of Pisa Choir, University of Cologne Chamber Choir and the Princeton University Chapel Choir.
