SPECIAL OFFER OF THE CONCERT CALLED SONGS BY ZDENĚK T R N K A & POEMS BY JAROSLAV S E I F E R T
FOR THE MUSIC FESTIVAL TALICH'S BEROUN
B i o g r a p h y
Zdeněk Trnka is 89 years old. He is a composer and makes classical music that is pure genius! He has composed music for poetry by Jaroslav Seifert (who has the Nobel price for literature), by Halek, Nezval and other famous Czech poets. Thanks to Zdenek‘s music and these concerts we can educate children and the entire public about the Czech tradition of excellent poetry.
Zdeněk Trnka (born 18.7.1925), pedagogue by profession, has pursued various musical interests and activities throughout all his life - as an interpreter, musical events promoter and primarily as a composer. Music became his greatest passion during his high school years in Beroun, where he studied concord under prof. Ferdinand Vodička (Vítězslav Novák’s student) and played in a student string quartet (together with later successful musicians, Czech Philharmonic violist K. Fidler and Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra winds player M. Pospíšil). Beroun environment had profound impact on developing his arts attitude when being introduced to famous conductor Václav Talich and poet Jaroslav Seifert (first ever Czech literature Nobel laureate).
Work of Zdeněk Trnka that has been composed for more than 60 years is extensive and formally diverse. He began with small compositions for solo instruments, songs and choirs but advanced to composing chamber music. He composed many pieces for women’s, men’s and mixed choirs and pinnacle of his work are his operas. Vocal compositions have among all his works special significance, as they are related to his own solo singing, many years’ work with choirs and to his sense of melody and rhythm of language. His great passion for poetry allowed him to set many pomes of famous poets to music (Seifert, Neruda, Vrchlický, Kainar, Skácel, Hora) as well as he set to music various biblical texts and folk songs. Librettos of his operas were written by himself according to Shakespear’s, Calderon’s and Nezval’s texts. (http://www.zdenektrnka.cz/index.php/en/)
Composer Zdeněk Trnka
A renowned soprano
Gabriela Jelínková
Gabriela Jelínková, a renowned soprano, expressed her interest to sing the songs by Zdeněk Trnka. She is a sought-after performer of dramatic soprano parts. Her core repertoire includes, but is not limited to Turandot, Cio-Cio-San, Salome, Rosalinde, Marie (Wozzeck) and Foreign Princess (Rusalka). After finishing her study at the Czech Conservatory of Music Gabriela won a prestigious scholarship to the Mozarteum University in Salzburg where she studied under the renowned Professor Ingrid Janser-Mayr. She graduated at the top of her class and was admitted to the Master Studies of Romantic Song and Sacred Music with Professor Wolfgang Holzmair. She completed advanced studies with Barbara Daniels, Lucile Evans, KS Jutta Vulpius, Claudia Visca, Anne Sophie-Schmidt, Peter Dvorský and Antonie Denygrová. (http://www.gabrielajelinkova.com/en/ )
The Kühn Choir of Prague has been part of the classical music scene for the past fifty years. It was established in 1959 when male voices were incorporated into what was originally a female chamber choir, set up in 1958 by Pavel Kühn (1938-2003) while he was still a student of Prague’s Academy of Music. He was thus continuing the work of his parents, choirmasters Markéta and Jan Kühn, the founders of the modern Czech choral tradition. The Kühn Choir of Prague remains a leading choral ensemble to this day.
The Kühn Choir of Prague
