Bambini di Praga ("Children of Prague" in Italian) was a Czech children's choir based in Prague and active from 1973 to 2011. The collective was composed mainly of girls.
History
Early days and predecessors
In 1939, Bohumil Kulínský Sr. (born 1910) established a children's choir in Hrabůvka, a district of Ostrava, at the time a part of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The choir was called Hrabůvští singers and they won their first singing competition in 1940. Thanks to this success, Kulínský was invited to Prague where in 1945, he founded Dětský pěvecký sbor Československého rozhlasu (Children's Choir of Czechoslovak Radio), also known as Kulínčata. During this period, the choir's popularity grew.[1]
Bambini and Bimbi
Bambini di Praga at the Municipal House concert hall in Prague, 2006
In 1973, cooperation with Czechoslovak Radio was interrupted. Kulínský, together with his wife Blanka, continued at the helm of the choir, however, and they rehearsed in a primary school instead, where they remained until the 2002 Prague floods. On 1 May 1973, the choir was renamed Bambini di Praga.
Around 1975, at the age of 16 or 17, Bohumil Kulínský Jr. created a second choir, Bimbi di Praga, composed of the smallest and most talented singers.[2] Several well-known musicians have passed through the ranks of the younger choir, including Lenka Dusilová, Martina Čechová, and Jana Boušková. In 1977, Kulínský Jr. became the choirmaster of Bambini di Praga. His father died in 1988.
In 1990, six months after the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, Blanka Kulínská and Bohumil Kulínský Jr. established a private music school in Prague, Škola sborového zpěvu při Bambini di Praga (Bambini di Praga School of Choral Singing).
Bohumil Kulínský's conviction and last days of Bambini
In 2004, Bohumil Kulínský was arrested and charged with numerous acts of sexual abuse of minors, with a final tally of 49 victims between 1984 and 2004. On 23 April 2008, he was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment with parole for the sexual abuse of 23 girls, some of whom were as young 15 when the acts took place.[3]
Kulínský began his sentence, by that point extended to 5.5 years, in January 2009.[4]
On 28 June 2011, shortly after Bohumil Kulínský's conditional release from prison, Bambini di Praga announced that they would end their activities.[5]
In September 2018, Kulínský died of kidney failure at the age of 59.[citation needed] His mother, Blanka, died in 2022.[citation needed]
