Vojtěch Jouza studied oboe in the class of František Xaver Thuri at the Prague Conservatory and in the class of Jiří Mihule at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.  Later he also graduated from the Academy where he studied with Tomáš Koutník, František Vajnar, Petr Vronský, Hynek Farkač, Josef Kuchinka, Leoš Svárovský, Charles Olivieri-Munroe, Norbert Baxa, Jiří Chvála and Lubomír Mátl. Vojtěch gained valuable musical experience early on, e.g. as a member of Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester under Claudio Abbado. When still a student at the Academy, he won a competition to become a cor anglais soloist of the Prague Symphony Orchestra (1989–1991). Since 1992 he has been an oboist of the Czech Philharmonic.

 

His interest in early music and chamber performance when still at the Conservatory inspired Vojtěch to found the Prague Baroque Ensemble in 1982. The Ensemble has been actively performing ever since. Vojtěch Jouza takes on the roles of oboist, artistic director and occasionally conductor. Out of many interesting projects of the Ensemble, e.g. the performance of St. Mark Passions by J. S. Bach is worth mentioning, staged in cooperation with the Prague Chamber Choir within the Czech Philharmonic cycle in 2007 and reconstructed by Vojtěch Jouza himself. In the following years, he staged well- and less-known works within cycles of the Prague Symphony Orchestra and the Czech Philharmonic such as Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Easter Oratorio and Magnificat; Missa Dei Patris by Jan Dismas Zelenka or Brockes Passion by Georg Philipp Telemann. Apart from numerous performances in the Czech Republic, the Prague Baroque Ensemble annually tours Japan.

 

As part of his other artistic activities, Vojtěch Jouza devotes his time to conducting choirs – in 1995 he founded the En Arché chamber choir where he is the choirmaster and conductor. In 2009, he also became choirmaster of the Česká píseň choir in Pilsen. In 2014, he was invited to teach at the Convivium International Summer School of Sacred Music as a choirmaster lecturer.

 

As a conductor Vojtěch Jouza had an opportunity to cooperate with leading Czech and Slovak orchestras and choirs – the Czech Philharmonic, PKF Prague Philharmonia, Slovak State Philharmonic in Košice, Prague Chamber Choir, Kühn Choir of Prague, Martinů Voices, Talich’s Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra of South Bohemia, Pardubice Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra and Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra in Zlín. Together with the Berg Orchestra he staged two operas by Bohuslav Martinů: Comedy on the Bridge and Marriage. As a co-creator and especially conductor he has been involved in the past seasons in successful educational programmes of the Czech Philharmonic under the title Penguins in Rudolfinum. Since 2015 he has been Assistant to Chief Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, Jiří Bělohlávek. In the 2016/2017 season he was involved in preparation of the recordings of Tchaikovsky’s works for Decca with Semyon Bychkov.