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The Bambini di Praga choir (= BDP) is one of the top ensembles in Czech choral art. This select group of young singers, predominantly girls aged 12 to 20, is capable of meeting all artistic challenges on a high level thanks to the professional guidance of its leaders - Bohumil Kulínský and Blanka Kulínská. It has been a guest on many stages around the world - in Paris, Berlin, Rome, Helsinki, Leipzig, Tokyo, New York, Osaka, Hong Kong, Jerusalem, Monte Carlo, Abu Dhabi, Boston, Johannesburg, Oslo, Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei, and elsewhere - and collaborates with leading Czech symphonic orchestras such as the Prague Symphony, the Prague Philharmonia, and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra among others. It regularly enriches Prague concert life and appears in musical programs of both Czech and foreign radio and television stations.
The members of the Bambini di Praga's concert choir are selected from among the best graduates of the private School of Choral Singing of the Bambini di Praga. This school offers children aged 5 to 12 not only the main subject of choral singing but also instruction in the basics of music theory, intonation and rhythm, recorder-playing, the English language, and motion training.
The greatest emphasis in the Bambini di Praga choir is on uniform vocal training, which has a decisive influence on the choir's overall sound image. Vocal training, which is a regular component of rehearsals, is exclusively the work of the choir's two leaders. In the interest of uniform vocal technique, members of the Bambini di Praga choir are not allowed to study with other voice teachers. It is for this reason that the choir's vocal quality, along with intonational purity and technical surety, are the most common topics of discussion in admiring reviews by domestic as well as foreign critics.
The repertoire of the Bambini di Praga is very extensive and is characterized by variety and diversity of genre. The young singers perform even completely divergent musical
styles, not excluding pop music and jazz, with absolute assurance and tremendous musicality. The repertoire includes works of the vocal polyphonic style and of the classical period, songs of the romantics, choral works of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, folk songs from nations all over the world, Christmas carols of Europe and America sung in the original languages, and of course folk songs of Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia. |
