About us

Bohemian Guitar Orchestra has been in existence since 2003. It has given a number of performances in the Czech Republic. Its members are conservatory students and graduates, mostly from the Conservatory of Pardubice, and primary-art-school students. At present, the basic formation consists of 33 members, but for some projects there can be up to hundred people performing together.

The orchestra doesn’t specialize in any particular musical period. The repertoire contains arrangements of pieces by Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Romantic composers (Praetorius, Attaignant, Vivaldi, Bach, Telemann, Mozart, Dvořák, Bizet...) as well as 20th century and contemporary music (Khachaturian, Duarte, Koshkin, Piazzolla, Rak...) and Latin-American songs and dances.

Apart from standard classical guitars, the ensemble also makes use of soprano instruments, tuned an octave above, and bass instruments, tuned an octave below. The bass parts are supported by a double bass. This has made the range of the orchestra wide enough to enable playing orchestral music (e. g. Baroque or Classical) in the original version without any problems.

Some members of the orchestra play on master and concert instruments from the workshop of Mr. Petr Matoušek and also the bass instruments were crafted by this master luthier. Some other members own guitars constructed by Mr. Jaroslav John. Also the soprano instruments were made by him.

The founder, conductor and artistic director of the ensemble is a Pardubice Conservatory graduate and a teacher at the Primary Art School Na Střezině, Hradec Králové, Rostislav Coufal, who also makes the arrangements of orchestral compositions for guitars.

The orchestra was established with the aim to revive the pre-WWII tradition of mandolin and guitar clubs that existed in then Czechoslovakia.

Since it was founded, BGO has gained two first prizes at international competitions – in 2005 at the International Competition of Guitar and Mandolin Orchestras “Prague Strings” and in 2008 at the “GOFI” contest in Bad Nauheim, Germany.

BGO has recently started cooperation with a leading Czech guitarist and composer Štěpán Rak, who has also dedicated a few of his compositions to the orchestra.

In May 2007, BGO released a profile CD with the music by Vivaldi, Bach, Piazzolla, Duarte, Rak and Latin-American folk music. It is the first-ever recording of a guitar orchestra in the Czech Republic.