Jiří Linha

JIŘÍ LINHA (1930) - artistic leader, director of the non-profit LINHA SINGERS o.p.s.

Mr. Linha was born in Prague (1930), where he studied and where he lives and works. At the age of six, he started playing the violin. A year later, he joined the Prague Philharmonic Children's Choir as a soprano. Toward the end of World War II, he graduated as a baritone to the Czech Choir conducted by Jan Kűhn. Both ensembles were professional radio choirs and regularly cooperated with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and Prague Symphony Orchestra, staging large symphonies, cantatas and oratorios. The work under the baton of famous Czech- and world-renowned conductors formed Mr. Linha's ideas of art, style and demand.

After a school-leaving exam in 1948, he continued his studies at the School of Education at Charles University, graduating in 1953 as a music teacher for secondary school. In the same, year he left home, got married, and joined the Czech Folk and Dance Ensemble as a baritone. After one year, he started working as a choir leader and second conductor, and later also as a successful composer.

In 1961, he left for the Artistic Ensemble of the Ministry of Interior, where he introduced his first vocal group to the public toward the end of 1963. Soon after that, this group established cooperation with the Czechoslovak Radio Dance Band in Prague. For two years, these two institutions (and often also Czechoslovak Television) fully employed Mr. Linha's vocal group as back-up vocals on recordings and at concerts of the then popular singers. However, the Artistic Ensemble of the Ministry of Interior and the group were suddenly disbanded in 1966.

The new group, which performed for the first time in 1967, was established by Mr. Linha as an independent ensemble with its own repertoire and specific musical language. Following two short engagements (Army Artistic Ensemble, Rokoko Theater), Mr. Linha managed to get the group under the administration of the State Theater Studio in 1970.

Ten years of working under the above institution allowed Mr. Linha to fully expand the concert activities of the LINHA SINGERS, both at home and abroad, and record, organize concerts for the youth, cooperate with specialists in the fight against drug addiction, experiment with musical projects of renowned contemporary composers, etc. It was, therefore, only logical that after the dissolution of the State Theater Studio in 1980, the LINHA SINGERS were transferred under the administration of the Prague Symphonic Orchestra, where they continued their career for another thirteen years.

In 1993, far-reaching changes in society resulted in the termination of the employment of members of the majority of chamber ensembles attached to the Prague Symphonic Orchestra. In order to protect the LINHA SINGERS, Mr. Linha founded the ORFEUS foundation and searched for a new operating organization. This continued up until 1998, i.e. until the transformation of ORFEUS into a non-profit organization, LINHA SINGERS o.p.s. Mr. Linha was its first director, but also continued as its artistic leader. He rehearses and performs with the new LINHA SINGERS, and does everything to maintain the continuity and quality of their musical genre.