Variations on an Old Chorale

Künstler

• Petr Kolař – organ

  From 1982 to 1988, he studied organ at the Brno Conservatory with Vratislav Bělský, and later with Zdeněk Nováček. He then continued his studies at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (JAMU) in Brno, in the class of Prof. Alena Veselá. During his studies, he actively participated in interpretation courses with Prof. Martin Haselböck in Lübeck, Stanislav Heller, and Michael Radulescu in Vienna. He also drew attention to himself with successes at several organ competitions (1986 Opava II Prize, 1988 Brno II Prize, 1989 Prague Spring III Prize, 1991 Deventer I Prize).

  After completing his studies, from 1993 to 2000, he began teaching organ and improvisation at the Department of Sacred Music at JAMU in Brno. Since 2000, he has been a teacher of organ and improvisation at the Brno Conservatory. He regularly collaborates with the Brno Philharmonic, various chamber ensembles, and choirs. He performs as a soloist at home and abroad (Austria, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Cyprus, France, Luxembourg, Finland, Malta, the Vatican, China).

  Throughout his musical career, he has been involved in working with choirs. From 1995 to 2002, he was engaged at the National Theatre in Brno, where, as the choirmaster of the Operetta, he prepared more than 20 operettas and musicals. In 2001, he became the choirmaster of the Brno Philharmonic Choir Beseda brněnská and the conductor of the Orchestra of the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul. In 2014, he founded the Brno Cathedral Choir MAGNIFICAT.

  He develops cooperation in the field of sacred music with representatives of music from major Central European churches (Salzburg Cathedral, St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig, Bratislava Cathedral, Olomouc Cathedral). Since 2000, he has been a member of the presidium of Musica sacra. He has produced several CDs. The latest CD with his conducting performance is a recording of the original version of the Czech Christmas Mass "Hey, Master" by Jakub Jan Ryba and the Missa pastoralis in D by Jan Antonín Koželuh. The latest organ CD is: The Mathis Organ of the Jesuit Church in Brno.

  From 1990 to 1997, he was the choirmaster and organist at the Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Old Brno. Since 1998, he has held the position of choirmaster and organist at the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul in Brno. During the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Brno in 2009, he conducted the music at the solemn papal Mass at the local airport.

  For his work in the field of sacred music, he received the Medal of St. Cyril and Methodius in 2017, and in 2019 he received the Johann-Wenzel-Stamitz Prize from the Esslingen artistic association.

  Discography

  - A. Dvořák Mass in D major, Z. Pololáník Te Deum Antiphona 1996

  - Ch. Gounod Solemn Mass in Honour of St. Cecilia, Roman Catholic Parish at the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Brno 2007

  - Ave Maria by world composers, Roman Catholic Parish at the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Brno 2007

  - Deus caritas est – music of the papal Mass, Roman Catholic Parish at the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Brno 2009

  - 150 years of Beseda brněnská – recording of the concert, Brno Philharmonic Choir Beseda brněnská 2010

  - A. Dvořák Biblical Songs, Musica sacra 2011

  - ANCILA DOMINI, Magnificat Endowment Fund 2014

  - J. J. Ryba: Czech Christmas Mass,

  J. A. Koželuh Missa pastoralis in A, Brno Philharmonic Choir Beseda brněnská 2017

  - The New Organ of the Jesuit Church in Brno, Campianus 2018

• Kateřina Málková – organ

  She is the founder of the Opus Organum society, which strives to promote and restore organs, primarily from the Znojmo organ school. This activity is followed by the creation of the Silberbauer’s Musical Thaya Region festival, of which she is the director and programmer. The festival aims to musically connect the Czech and Austrian border regions. Thanks to this activity, the greatest contribution to the field will be the future restoration of valuable instruments by Josef Silberbauer. In December 2021, her first solo CD, "Silberbauer in Vranov nad Dyjí," was released by Arta Music.

  Kateřina Málková is a promoter of mainly Baroque works, but also of contemporary composers. She always tries to find new places with lesser-known instruments and is committed to their promotion to the general public. She organises a number of concerts in both South Moravia and Lower Austria. In addition to her solo concert work, she is also involved in teaching. She has performed at festivals in Austria, Slovakia, Switzerland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, and other countries. She collaborates with orchestras such as the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, the North Czech Philharmonic, the Atlantis Orchestra, the Collegium Magistrorum, the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic, the Sedunum String Orchestra, and others. She studied organ at the Brno Conservatory in the class of Petr Kolař, then continued her master’s studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with Jaroslav Tůma. During her studies, she completed a one-year internship in Lübeck, Germany, with Arvid Gast.

• Barbora Šteflová – oboe

  Barbora Šteflová studied oboe at the Brno Conservatory with Gabriel Sýkora and Hana Drábková and then at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ostrava under Dušan Foltýn. There she also completed her doctoral studies, focusing on Czech compositions for oboe from the second half of the 20th century. She performed as a soloist in 2006 with the Ensemble Opera Diversa, and in 2010 and 2018 with the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava. The focus of her interest is in chamber music. In 2009, she collaborated with the Kubín Quartet, in 2019 she won 3rd prize with the Trio Aperto at the AEMC International Chamber Music Competition in Montecassiano, and with the same trio she participated in the AEMC Music, Communication and Performance 2020 international conference. She collaborates with Czech Radio in creating premiere recordings of chamber works by Czech composers. She is the principal oboist of the Janáček Opera Orchestra of the National Theatre in Brno and is also a member of the Trio Opera, Trio Aperto, and the band HaChucpa. She also collaborates with the BCO and Ensemble Opera Diversa orchestras.

  
  
  

• Pěvecký sbor Gaudeamus Brno, Daša Karasová, Martina Kirová - choirmasters

  The GAUDEAMUS Brno Choir has been active on the Czech choral scene since 1996, when it was founded by the leading Ukrainian choirmaster and conductor Alexander Vacek.
  Over the years, the originally university choir has developed into an independent body, whose members are currently both students and university graduates.
  Since 2012, singers from 13 different countries have passed through the choir. The choir holds annual concerts and participates in choral festivals both at home and abroad. Its extensive concert repertoire includes a cappella and vocal-instrumental works by Czech and world composers from the Renaissance to the present day. Under the direction of choirmasters Daša Karasová and Martina Kirová, the choir maintains its position as one of the leading Czech amateur choral ensembles. In recent years, Gaudeamus has been striving to present dramaturgically original projects and, through them, to bring both more and less well-known choral works of the past to the public, and above all, to promote contemporary Czech and foreign choral works. Over the course of its existence, Gaudeamus has successfully presented itself at many domestic and foreign festivals and competitions. In 2017, it became the laureate of the Grand Prix at the XII. International Festival of Advent and Christmas Music in Bratislava. Gaudeamus regularly collaborates with Czech and foreign ensembles and orchestras.

  www.gaudeamus-brno.cz

  
  
  

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