The Praga Camerata continues the renowned tradition of Czech chamber ensembles. It was founded in 2001 by violinist Pavel Hůla with a vision to capitalize on his rich experience as the first violinist of the Kocian Quartet and a long-time member of the Prague Chamber Soloists Orchestra. He invited players who were mainly dedicated to chamber music to collaborate. Praga Camerata plays basically with strings only and without a conductor. It is occasionally expanded to include wind instruments, offering additional repertoire options. The repertoire itself is wide, and it includes important Baroque, classical, romantic and contemporary works.
Praga Camerata performs regularly on domestic venues or concert halls and at festivals. The orchestra, under the artistic direction of Pavel Hůla, made several successful concert tours in Japan and Spain. In February 2008, the ensemble performed at the renowned Folle Journée festival in Nantes, France, which was dedicated to the anniversary of Franz Schubert. Since 2011, Praga Camerata has performed annually in the prestigious Tonhalle Zürich as part of the Swiss Charity Concert project. The orchestra performed also in other famous concert halls such as Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Seoul Arts Centre, KKL Concert Hall in Lucerne, Palau de la Musica in Barcelona or the Auditorium in Valencia. On domestic venues, Praga Camerata regularly presents Ryba’s popular Czech Christmas Mass.
In 2007, the ensemble released the first CD for the French label Praga Digitals with Schubert’s Quartet “Death and the Maiden” in Mahler’s arrangement. This recording received high praise from foreign professional critics. The ensemble participated in the recording of several other CDs.
In 2021, Pavel Hůla’s daughter, the violinist Lucie Sedláková Hůlová, took over the artistic direction of the Praga Camerata orchestra, together with her husband, cellist Martin Sedlák. Both are experienced and sought-after musicians and have been active in the orchestra since its foundation. They often perform as soloists with Praga Camerata.
In 2024, five members of the orchestra also founded the chamber ensemble Praga Camerata Quintet. The ensemble’s core repertoire in the Year of Czech Music 2024 is, for example, Dvořák’s Quintet Op. 77 and other pieces by Czech composers for this cast. An interesting feature in the repertoire is the performance of chamber arrangements of piano concertos, eg. by Rachmaninov, Chopin or Liszt.