Jan Steyer studied organ and conducting at the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He has been an active participant at many master classes taught by leading figures from the music world focusing on the interpretation of early music and contemporary music. While a conservatory student, he gained conducting experience as the artistic director of the vocal-instrumental ensemble Collegium Carmina Antiqua, and he later served as the choirmaster of the Prague Girls’s Choir. He has appeared as an organist in solo performances and together with many choirs and orchestras (including the Czech Philharmonic and the Prague Philharmonic Choir). He has taken part in the making of several CDs as a performer and as a recording supervisor, and he also makes recordings for Czech Radio and Czech Television. He has given concerts in most countries of Europe and in Japan. He is the artistic director of the Vocal Ensemble of the Czech Technical University in Prague.

Jiří Petrdlík is one of the leading conductors of his generation. Under the guidance of Prof. Miroslav Košler, Miriam Němcová, Jiří Bělohlávek, and other teachers, he graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He furthered his education at a master class in Wroclaw given by Kurt Masur, music director of the New York Philharmonic. From 2002 to 2009 he was successively engaged as a conductor at the National Theatre in Brno and as the chief conductor at the Municipal Theatre in Brno, and since 2005 he has been on the conducting staff at the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen. He works regularly with Czech and foreign orchestras (including the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, the North Czech Philharmonic in Teplice, the Moravian Philharmonic in Olomouc, the Orchestre National de Capitol du Toulouse, and the KSO in Toronto) and with the National Theatre in Prague. From 2010 to 2015 he was the chief conductor and artistic director of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra. He has been at the helm of the Prague Mixed Choir since 2010.

The Prague Mixed Choir was founded in 1945. Under the leadership of Prof. Miroslav Košler, who was at the choir’s helm for nearly sixty years, the ensemble has earned a place among the top Czech non-professional choirs. It is known for its wide range of repertoire, emphasising Czech music of the twentieth century. It has won great success at home and abroad, winning a number of awards at prestigious choral competitions, most recently at the Praga Cantat International Choir Competition. Besides giving concerts in the Czech Republic, it has also presented the Czech art of choral singing on many tours abroad. Among its greatest successes in recent years have been three gala concerts for the Year of Czech Music in 2014 with the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra in Pardubice, an appearance at the Smetana’s Litomyšl International Opera Festival in 2015, a major concert tour of China that autumn, and last year’s performance of A German Requiem by Johannes Brahms at the Municipal House in Prague.