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The Czech Philharmonic is the leading symphonic ensemble in the musically rich Czech Republic, with a long history of definitive performances and recordings of Czech repertory. The orchestra has sometimes found itself a topic of political contention as the waves of European history have swept across its homeland.

Like many other Central European orchestras, the Czech Philharmonic (the Czech name since 2015 is Česká filharmonie, and the word "orchestra" is no longer part of its name) began as a theater orchestra: a group of orchestral musicians at the Prague National Theatre named themselves the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in 1894, and in two years, the wisdom of the move became apparent when Dvořák conducted the group in a concert of his own works. By 1901, the Philharmonic was a fully independent entity, and it quickly gained renown beyond Czech borders; Mahler conducted the orchestra in the world premiere of his Symphony No. 7 in 1908. The most important among the orchestra's early conductors was Vaclav Talich, who held the post of principal conductor for most of the period between 1919 and 1941.

The orchestra's conductors since then have all been internationally renowned figures. Rafael Kubelik assumed the baton under German occupation in 1942, remaining until 1948 but fleeing at that point as Czechoslovakia came under Communist rule. His successors have included Karel Ancerl (who fled to Canada during the Soviet crackdown after the so-called Prague Spring of 1968), Václav Neumann, and Jiří Bělohlávek, all of whom were distinguished interpreters of Czech music, Mahler, and often French and 20th century music as well. Their recordings gained critical acclaim in the West despite Czechoslovakia's partial isolation during the Cold War. In the late '80s, the orchestra participated in Czech protests against Soviet domination. A performance of Smetana's Má vlast in 1990 marked Kubelik's return to his homeland for the first time in 42 years. Bělohlávek served from 1990 to 1992, stepping down as the orchestra appointed Gerd Albrecht to be its first non-Czech conductor. This move generated controversy, and Albrecht also resigned in 1996. He was succeeded by Vladimir Ashkenazy (1996-2003), who led the orchestra on major international tours. He was followed by Zdeněk Mácal and the Eliahu Inbal. Bělohlávek returned in 2012 and was essentially given a contract for life, making critically acclaimed recordings before his death in 2017. Since 2018, the orchestra's conductor has been Semyon Bychkov.

The Czech Philharmonic has recorded prolifically during the digital era, at first mostly for the Czech national label Supraphon. In the late 2010s, the group has also recorded for the Decca label, which has continued to issue Bělohlávek recordings in its vaults. In 2019, his reading of Josef Suk's Asrael Symphony appeared on that label. The Bychkov era began on Decca with The Tchaikovsky Project (2019), a complete cycle of the composer's symphonies, concertos, and other orchestral works. In 2022, Bychkov and the Philharmonic issued a pair of Mahler symphony releases on the PentaTone Classics label. By that time, the group's recording catalog comprised some 140 digital albums, plus many LPs issued when the Philharmonic was the national orchestra of Czechoslovakia. ~ James Manheim

Semyon Bychkov's conducting is admired for its clarity, unexaggerated expression, and frankness in conveying the intent of the music, regardless of what he is conducting. He has led orchestras and opera companies across the globe and has had a successful recording career.

Bychkov was born on November 30, 1952, in Leningrad, U.S.S.R. (now St. Petersburg, Russia). His first studies were of the piano, but he spent ten years (from the age of seven) at the Glinka Choir School in St. Petersburg, singing in the choir and learning conducting. Bychkov then studied with Ilya Musin at the Leningrad Conservatory, earning such respect for his skills that he won the 1973 Rachmaninov Conducting Competition and was invited to conduct the Leningrad Philharmonic before his graduation. However, the concert and his graduation never happened. Bychkov had not been discreet about his views of Soviet policies, and due to this, the concert was canceled. In 1974, the KGB handed him an exit visa. After a few months in Vienna and Italy, he found himself in New York, studying conducting at the Mannes College of Music. He then became the conductor of the Grand Rapids Symphony in Michigan from 1980 until 1984 and took American citizenship in 1983. At the same time, he was the principal guest conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic in New York, eventually becoming its music director in 1985. However, it was a series of guest conducting jobs -- including with the Berlin Philharmonic and filling in for Bernard Haitink with the Concertgebouw and Rafael Kubelik with the New York Philharmonic -- in 1984 that brought him international attention. Around the same time, his first recording, Rossini's Stabat Mater on Philips, met with great success.

Leaving the Buffalo position, Bychkov was named music director of the Orchestre de Paris in 1989, principal guest conductor of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in 1990, principal guest conductor of Florence's Maggio Musicale in 1992, and chief conductor of the Dresden Semperoper in 1997. In addition to the operas conducted in Dresden, Bychkov has also conducted Elektra at the Wiener Staatsoper, Tristan und Isolde at the Chicago Lyric Opera, and Jenufa in Florence. Bychkov's debut at New York's Metropolitan Opera occurred in June 2004, with Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov. He stepped down from his Paris position in 1998 after being appointed conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne. He remained in Cologne until 2010. With that ensemble, he began a recording series of Shostakovich's symphonies, expanded its touring schedule, and premiered many new works by composers such as Magnus Lindberg and Nicholas Maw. In 2012, he was appointed the position of Günter Wand Conducting Chair for the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Bychkov began guest conducting the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in 2013 and led the group in concerts and recordings. In 2017, the Czech Philharmonic announced Bychkov's appointment as its chief conductor and music director beginning in 2018.

Bychkov has had a very successful recording career, including a ten-year contract with the Philips label. He's also recorded for Decca, Avie, and Profil, among others. In 2019, Decca released the box set for The Tchaikovsky Project, an exploration into the composer's music by Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic that began in 2015. Focusing on Mahler's symphonic works on tour and in recordings in the early 2020s, Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic kicked off a new cycle on the PentaTone Classics label with a recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 4 in 2022.

Bychkov is married to pianist Marielle Labèque. ~ Patsy Morita & Keith Finke

Christiane Karg is one of Germany's most active and versatile sopranos, with a large repertory stretching from the Baroque to contemporary music. Karg has appeared widely around Europe and beyond in opera, concert and choral music, and song recitals.

Karg was born in Feuchtwangen in central Bavaria, West Germany, on August 6, 1980. Showing musical talent early, Karg took lessons on piano and flute as a child but switched to singing at age 14 after attending opera performances. She won Bavarian and German federal prizes as a teen and was admitted to the Mozarteum in Salzburg, where she studied voice with Heiner Hopfner and lieder singing with Wolfgang Holzmair. Karg moved on to the Verona Conservatory in Italy, studying Italian opera. Karg rounded out her education with master classes with Grace Bumbry, Ann Murray, and Mirella Freni, among others. She began her career as part of the International Opera Studio at the Staatsoper in Hamburg, moving on to the company of the Frankfurt Opera in 2008. Two years later, she issued her solo album debut, Verwandlung: Lieder eines Jahres, on the Berlin Classics label with accompanist Burkhard Kehring.

Karg has sung at many European opera houses, including the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Royal Opera at Covent Garden in London, and the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Her recital career has included appearances at the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Carnegie Hall in New York, and Wigmore Hall in London. Karg has been a prominent figure at festivals, including the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival (with the NDR Symphony Orchestra), Lower Saxony Music Days, and the Heidelberg Spring. She is also the creator of KunstKlang, a festival held in her hometown of Feuchtwangen since 2014, as well as "be part of it! - Musik für Alle," a youth music education program. She has gone on to record for Deutsche Grammophon, Profil, and Harmonia Mundi, where she issued the album Erinnerung: Mahler Lieder in 2020. In 2021, Karg released the holiday album Licht der Welt: A Christmas Promenade on Harmonia Mundi. She moved to BR Klassik, the label of Germany's Bavarian Radio, for a 2022 recital of songs by Debussy and Reynaldo Hahn. The following year, she was heard on a recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 2 in C minor ("Resurrection") with Semyon Bychkov conducting the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. ~ James Manheim

Soprano Elisabeth Kulman has an international career in opera but has increasingly often performed concert music. As her voice developed, she shifted from the soprano range to mezzo-soprano and contralto parts and roles.

Kulman was born in Oberpullendorf in far eastern Austria on June 28, 1973, and earned her Matura secondary school diploma in 1991. She began her university career studying linguistics and musicology, but she sang in various Viennese choirs, including the Arnold Schoenberg Chor, Concentus Vocalis Wien, and Chorus sine nomine, and in 1995, she began vocal studies with Helena Lazarska at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien. After completing programs in both opera and song/oratorio, she earned a master's degree with distinction and quickly landed the role of Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Wiener Volksopera in 2001. For the first part of her career, she was known as a Mozart soprano. Her recording debut came in 1999 with the Wiener Kammerchor on a recording of Liszt's Via crucis and Missa choralis.

Kulman switched to the mezzo-soprano specialty in 2004, making her debut in Suppé's Boccaccio. She has also sung contralto roles. Kulman's range is wide, including operas in German, French, and Italian, from the Baroque era (she appeared at Germany's Schwetzingen Festival in Alessandro Scarlatti's Telemaco and Giovanni Legrenzi's Il Giustino) to newly composed works, including the world premiere of Aribert Reimann's Medea at the Wiener Staatsoper. In 2009, she made her solo debut with Amarcord Wien on an album of Mahler orchestral songs. Kulman has increasingly often appeared in concert music, and in 2013, she recorded Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with the Netherlands Radio Choir under the baton of Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Kulman has recorded for, among other labels, Preiser Records, Decca, and PentaTone, where she sang the contralto solo part in Mahler's Symphony No. 2 in C minor ("Resurrection") in 2023. ~ James Manheim

The Prague Philharmonic Choir (in Czech Pražský filharmonický sbor) is an independent, self-governing chorus operating under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic. The choir has been associated with various orchestras over its nearly 90 years of existence, although not with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Prague Philharmonic Choir was founded in 1935 by singer Jan Kühn as the Czech Choir. At first, it served the needs of what was then Czechoslovak Radio and sang with that network's Symphony Orchestra of Czechoslovak Radio. Both organizations were silenced by the German occupation during World War II, but the choir was re-formed in the postwar years and performed with various orchestras. Several performances were landmarks: the choir performed Dvorák's oratorio St. Ludmila in the courtyard of Prague Castle in 1948, and Arthur Honegger's King David under the composer's baton the following year. In 1953, the choir was attached by the Czechoslovak Culture Ministry to the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. It took the name Prague Philharmonic Choir at about this time. Kühn remained the director until his death in 1958 and was replaced by Josef Veselka. The choir toured often in the 1960s and 1970s, not only in Eastern Europe. Veselka stepped down in 1981 and was replaced by his pupil, Lubomír Mátl.

With the end of Communist rule in 1990 and the subsequent separation of the Czech Republic from Slovakia, the Prague Philharmonic Choir was removed from its connection to the Czech Philharmonic and became independent under conductor Pavel Kühn (son of Jan). In the 1990s, the choir spawned the smaller Czech Chamber Choir, which has gone on to considerable renown on its own. Since 2007, Prague Philharmonic Choir's conductor has been Lukás Vasilek. In modern times, the choir has appeared often with orchestras in both eastern and western Europe and has expanded its activities into opera.

The choir's recording catalog dates back to a performance of the Dvorák Stabat Mater under Vaclav Talich in 1952. It has recorded for the Praga and Supraphon labels, but also for CPO, where it was heard with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra in the world premiere recording of Max Bruch's opera Die Loreley on an album released in 2019. ~ James Manheim