MAREK VALÁŠEK
Marek Valášek studied conducting at the Music Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (AMU) and completed programs in Music Education and Choral Conducting at the Faculty of Education, Charles University. He also studied the Regenschori (church music director) program at the Týn School in Prague. From 2002 to 2006, he held the position of choirmaster at the State Opera in Prague and returned to this position in 2015.
During the 2005 Prague Spring Festival, he conducted the Czech premiere of the full-length oratorio Ecce Homo by Jan Hanuš. In November 2005, he recorded Hanuš’s Symphony No. 1 with the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra (SOČR), and in 2009, he premiered Hanuš’s Requiem worldwide.
Marek Valášek specializes in vocal-instrumental works. In 1996, he founded and continues to lead the ensemble Piccolo coro & Piccola orchestra, with which he regularly performs both in the Czech Republic and abroad (in Germany, Italy, France, Slovakia, Croatia, and Taiwan). He has recorded five CDs of sacred music and one with choral arrangements of folk songs with this ensemble.
Marek Valášek is the chief organist for the Capuchin Order in Prague’s Hradčany district, a faculty member at the Prague Conservatory in the Department of Music Theory, and the choirmaster of two conservatory choirs. Since 2002, he has been teaching at the Department of Music Education at the Faculty of Education, Charles University, and since 2018, he has served as the department head. He is regularly invited to lead choral conducting courses and serve on choral competition juries. In 2013, he was awarded the prestigious Ferdinand Vach Prize by the Czech Music Foundation and the Association of Choirs and Vocal Ensembles.
MIROSLAV LAŠTOVKA
He was born in Kladno. From childhood, he studied violin, which he later replaced with the trumpet. He initially studied trumpet at the elementary music school (LŠU) and later, after successfully passing the entrance exams, at the State Conservatory. While still a student, he served as the first trumpeter in the Central Bohemian Symphony Orchestra in Poděbrady. In 1987, he became the first trumpeter of the International Youth Philharmonic, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek, with whom he toured Eastern Europe the following year. In 1988, he participated in a trumpet competition in Brno, where he won first prize in the former Czechoslovakia.
As a result of this competition, and driven by the desire to master the instrument as perfectly as possible, he passed the entrance exams to the Academy of Performing Arts (AMU) in Prague in 1988 and was accepted. After five years of study, he graduated from AMU with a state final exam and the title Master of Music.
At AMU, M. Laštovka’s passion for playing the high trumpet was fully realized, and he specialized in it during his studies. In addition to several competitions, he also participated in master baroque courses (in Blankenburg).
He is currently a member of the orchestra of the State Opera, National Theatre, and as a soloist, he performs not only in Prague but throughout the Czech Republic.
Together with the chamber ensemble CONSORTIUM PRAGENSE, he has toured Italy, Germany, and Spain. In addition to this ensemble, he has been collaborating as a soloist with the chamber orchestras VIRTUOSI PRAGENSE and MUSICI DI PRAGA for several years, with whom he also has a CD.
Besides his orchestral work, he is deeply involved in chamber music, frequently performing with leading organists. This activity has further deepened through the combination of trumpet, organ, and soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, or bass.
Finally, M. Laštovka is dedicated to interpreting major baroque works, such as Magnificat, Mass in B minor, Christmas Oratorio, and others.
MICHAELA VAŠKŮ
Cello – Orchestra of the State Opera, National Theatre
IN MEMORIAM
