Thursday 8/8, 19:30
Masquerade Hall
Soloists: Radek Baborák /French horn/, Miriam Rodriguez Brüllová /guitar/
Baborák Ensemble
Harmony of wind, strings and keys
Dalibor Karvay and Martina Bačová /violin/, Karel Untermüller /viola/, Hana Baboráková /violoncello/, David Pavelka /contrabass/, Petr Valášek /bass clarinet/, Radek Baborák /French horn/, Ondřej Roskovec /bassoon/, Václav Krahulík /piano/, Miriam Rodriguez Brüllová /guitar/
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Concerto No. 3 for French horn and strings
Niccolò Paganini: Sonata for guitar and strings (arr. Igor Bázlik)
Kerry Turner: Sonata for French horn and strings
intermission
Ástor Piazzolla: Escualo, Fracanapa, Milonga del Angel, Butcher’s Death, Fuga Y Misterio, Resurreccion del Angel
Horn player and conductor Radek Baborák belongs to the most important personalities of the classical music scene. In more than 25 years of his solo career he has impressed listeners in the most famous cultural centres around the world with his outstanding musical performance. He studied at the Prague Conservatory. He was the absolute winner of the radio competition Concertino Praga, received 3rd prize at the Prague Spring competition, 1st prize at a contemporary music interpretation competition and became a UNESCO Grand Prix laureate. At the age of eighteen he was offered the position of first hornist in the Czech Philharmonic. He has also held the post of solo hornist in the Munich Philharmonic and he completed his presence in orchestras with the Berlin Philharmonic in the 2003-2010 seasons. Chamber music forms an important part of Radek Baborák’s musical life. He founded a number of ensembles of which he is also artistic leader – the Baborák Ensemble, whose basic format consists of the French horn and a string quartet, the Czech Horn Chorus, which follows up on the 300-year tradition of horn play in Bohemia, and the string ensemble Prague Chamber Soloists – and he is a member of the Afflatus Quintet, with which he won first prize at the ARD competition in Munich. Among his conducting partners you will find personalities such as Daniel Barenboim, Seiji Ozawa, Simon Rattle, Vladimír Askhenazy and others. His concerts are broadcast by television and radio stations such as, for example, Euro Arts, BR, ARD, NHK, Czech Television and RTVE. He has made a number of recordings for the music companies EMI, Supraphon, Exton, Arte Nova, Artesmon and Animal Music. He teaches at the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
Miriam Rodriguez Brüllová studied at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, Université du Québec á Montréal, Université Laval in Quebec City and Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna. She has performed as a soloist with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester, Orchestra Fondazione Arena di Verona, Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Slovak State Philharmonic, Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá, Universal Symphony Orchestra Seoul, Camerata Seoul, Rzeszow Philharmonic, Virtuosi di Praga, Virtuosi Pragenses, Slovak Sinfonietta and others. She has played with well-known quartets as the Aeolus Quartet, Kallaci Quartet, Zemlinsky Quartet, Stamic Quartet, Mucha Quartet, Moyzes Quartet and Slovak Quartet. She also intensely dedicates herself to chamber play in different ensembles with leading Czech, Slovak and Hungarian artists, her most frequent concert partners are Pavol Remenár (baritone), Roman Patkoló (contrabass), Petr Nouzovský (violoncello), Dalibor Karvay and Sándor Jávorkai (violin). Miriam has performed at such famous concert halls as the Prague Rudolfinum, Berlin Konzerthaus, Seoul Art Center, Auditorium Conciliazione Rome, Teatro Filarmonico Verona and others. She has given workshops and master classes in Pretoria, Lima, Moscow, Bratislava. In addition to Slovakia she has played in almost the entire Europe, in South and North America, Africa and Asia.
The Baborák Ensemble was founded by horn player and conductor Radek Baborák. Its members are connected by the joy of sharing music of the masters of four style periods, enthusiasm for discovering unknown compositions and searching for an original, untraditional interpretation of the compositions which are dedicated to the ensemble or adapted for it. The core of the chamber ensemble is the French horn and the string quartet. Since the first concerts and projects this formation has been expanding according to the demands of the repertoire and style of the different compositions. The Baborák Ensemble cooperates with a number of unique musical personalities, concertmasters and players of the Berlin, Munich and Czech Philharmonic. Other Czech allied ensembles such as the Epoque Quartet and Clarinet Factory perform with the Baborák Ensemble. Another important element is the cooperation with composers including Miloš Bok, František Šterbák, Tomáš Ille and Ondřej Brousek. The ensemble has also made a number of outstanding recordings. It recorded its debut CD with a selection from its repertoire (Mozart, Beethoven, Krol, Turner) for the Japanese company Exton. The album “Quattro Stagioni” presented Italian music by Vivaldi, Corelli, Donizetti, Sinigaglia and Rota and received a prize from Japanese critics. Its last project Orquestrina released by the independent music company Animal Music includes adaptations of works by Ástor Piazzolla (Histoire du Tango), Ravel (Bolero) and Fauré (Pavana) and was launched in the sold-out chamber hall of the Berlin Philharmonic.