The Permoník Youth Choir is officially the newest, ninth ensemble of Permoník Choir Karviná, although it had already been performing unofficially for several years. The choir developed gradually and quite naturally when the girls and younger boys from the Permoník Concert Choir began singing and performing together with the ever-growing Permoník Men’s Chamber Choir. Since September 2024, this young mixed ensemble has officially been known as the Permoník Youth Choir.
The Permoník Youth Choir is the largest ensemble within Permoník Choir Karviná, bringing together around 70 girls, boys and young men aged approximately 11 to 26. The choir rehearses and performs a repertoire for mixed choir that includes classical works (Jan Vičar’s cantata Vysoko hvězda, Radujme se!, Arnesen’s Magnificat, Ryba’s Czech Christmas Mass, Vladimír Rotter’s Christmas Mass, works by Rachmaninoff, Gjeilo and others), folk-inspired music (the popular scenic suite of arrangements of folk songs by Jan Vičar, Zdeněk Lukáš, Milan Báchorek, Bohuslav Martinů and Tereza Surovíková), and songs from countries visited by Permoník (Poland, Norway, Japan, Germany, South Korea, Slovakia, Australia, the USA and others).
The choir also presents a popular concert programme composed of well-known musical and film melodies entitled “Train to Chattanooga – Permoník as You’ve Never Heard It”, featuring music from Mamma Mia!, Jesus Christ Superstar, West Side Story, Starci na chmelu, songs by Queen, and works by Jaroslav Ježek. Another favourite programme is SametOVA!!!, created for the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, featuring arrangements by Jan Lstibůrek of songs such as Modlitba pro Martu, Časy se mění, Slunečný hrob, Kam tenkrát šel můj bratr Jan, Zdivočelá země, Hey, Jude, S láskou má svět naději and Karavana mraků.
Among the choir’s important concert appearances and competition successes are performances at the Sounds of Spring Festival in New York City at Carnegie Hall (USA) in 2022, where the choir received a Gold Medal, participation in the World Choir Games in Gangneung (South Korea) in 2023 with another Gold Medal, a concert at the St. Wenceslas Music Festival 2024, and success at the 10th Grieg International Choir Festival in Bergen (Norway) in 2024, where the choir won 1st prize and advanced to the Grand Prix competition among the seven best choirs out of 31 participating ensembles.
In 2022, the Permoník Youth Choir also gave an independent concert at the prestigious multi-genre festival Colours of Ostrava and performed on the main stage with the Canadian-Ukrainian group Balaklava Blues. At the Gong concert hall the choir collaborated with the band Queenie and the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, and with Tomáš Klus and the orchestra in the project Klusymfonie. In December 2022, shortly before Christmas, the choir performed at the O2 Arena in Prague together with the Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra.
The conductors of the Permoník Youth Choir are Martina Juríková and Karina Grimová, and the choir is accompanied on piano by Jakub Šotkovský.
