Martin Smolka

Martin Smolka ( born August 11, 1959 in Prague, Czechoslovakia ) is a contemporary Czech composer.

Life and work

Martin Smolka is the son of Czech musicologist and composer Jaroslav Smolka ( 1933-2011 ). He studied composition with Jiří Pauer and Ctirad Kohoutek at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and took private lessons with Marek Kopelent. In 1983 he co-founded the ensemble Agon, with whom he worked until 1988 as a musician for prepared piano and artistic director. Premieres of his works were held in Europe, North America and Japan, and were broadcast on the radio part. Besides his native country, he gained popularity especially in Germany. He fulfilled commissions for festivals such as Warsaw Autumn (1987, 2000), the Donaueschingen Music Festival (1992, 2000 and 2006), Berlin Biennale (1993, 1997), Witten Days for New Chamber Music (1999) and the ISCM World Music Days (1990, 1996, 2005, 2006 ). His opera " Nagano " was performed at the National Opera and in 2004 was awarded the Alfred Radok National Prize. Since 2003, Smolka is a professor of composition at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno. Occasionally he works for film and theater. Among others, he compiled the accompanying music for the silent film The doll, which was re-recorded for broadcast the film on German television in 2007.

Works (selection)

Discography

  • Band of hudbička, Ensemble AGON, Arta Records, Prague 1991
  • Music for Retuned instrument, ensemble recherche, Witten Days for New Chamber Music in 1991, WDR Köln 1991
  • Rain, a Window, Roofs, Chimneys, Pigeons and so ... and Railway Bridges, too, col legno Munich / SWF Baden -Baden, Donaueschingen Music Days 1992
  • A v sadech Koralu, Slabe Jež zrůžověly, Petr Matuszek - baritone, Martin Smolka - crafted Klavir, Na prahu světla, Happy Music, Prague 1996
  • Rent a Ricercar, Flying Dog, For Woody Allen, Nocturne, AGON Orchestra, audio ego / Society for New Music Prague 1997
  • Euphorium, Rain, a Window, Roofs, Chimneys, Pigeons and so ... and Railway Bridges, too, Music for Retuned Instruments, Ringing, AGON Orchestra, audio ego / Society for New Music Prague, 1998
  • Walden, the Distiller of Celestial Dews, SWR Stuttgart Vocal Ensemble, Meinhard Jenne - drums, Rupert Huber - Conductor, Donaueschingen Music Days 2000
Donaueschingen Festival The Doll (1919 film) Christian Morgenstern Jan Werich WERGO Integrated Authority File
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