Zdeněk Chalabala

Zdeněk Chalabala ( born April 18, 1899 in Uherské Hradiště, † March 4, 1962 in Prague) was a Czech conductor.

Chalabala had first music lessons from his mother, an amateur pianist, and first began studying philosophy before he studied with Vítězslav Novák at the Prague Conservatory. He continued his education at the Conservatory of Brno at František Neumann continued and attended the master class of Leoš Janáček.

From 1925 to 1936 he taught at the Brno Conservatory and occasionally performed at the State Theatre of the city as a conductor. His most important pupil was the composer Vítězslava Kaprálová. 1936 brought him Václav Talich at the Prague National Theatre, where he worked until the closing of the house by the German occupiers in 1944.

After 1945 Chalabala had engagements in Ostrava, Brno and Bratislava before chief conductor of the National Theatre in 1953. Between 1957 and 1959 he also served as guest conductor of opera performances at Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre. On record Chalabalas recordings from all the major operas Bedřich Smetana and Antonín Dvořák's Rusalka and by several of his symphonic poems are preserved.

Source

• Allmusic: Zdenek Chalabala

• Czechoslovak
• Conductor
• Born in 1899
• Died in 1962
• Man