Vlastislav Matoušek studied composition and music theory at the Faculty of Music of the Academy of Performing Arts and the Institute of Musicology of the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague, where he defended his dissertation Kinetics in Ethnic Music in 2001 and received his doctorate in music theory - theory of composition and was appointed associate professor in 2004. He lectured in ethnomusicology at the Department of Theory and History of Music at HAMU in Prague and also at the Institute for Musicology at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University. As a Japan Foundation scholarship holder, he studied shakuhachi flute with Kifu Mitsuhashi and consulted Japanese traditional music with Professor Osamu Yamaguti. As a music journalist he collaborated with Czech Radio. He is the author of rather eccentric compositions, often involving exotic instruments and electronics. He likes to use unconventional means of expression and methods. He performs on the shakuhachi, and with his group Ensemble 108 Hz he performs experimental contemporary music and his own compositions. On historical and folk instruments he plays and sings with his family ensemble Schola Specialis Familiae, which specializes in the music of the Gothic period and on the folklore of Eastern Bohemia, where he comes from. On exotic percussion, flutes and other instruments he plays meditative music inspired by the Orient in the ensemble Relaxation. He received the Order of the Rising Sun in 2022 for his outstanding contribution to the friendly relations between Japan and the Czech Republic in the field of music.
December 2022 marks 12 years since a string quartet with the unconventional name of Gadrew Way first appeared on the concert stage. In a way, the musical material that this group has in its repertoire is also unconventional. The variety of genres ranges from jazz compositions, through wild Balkan melodies and Jewish music up to songs inspired by Czech and Moravian folklore. A significant part of the repertoire consists of original pieces written by the first violinist, a quinton player and a singer Gabriela Vermelho. The Gadrew Way Quartet has been cooperating regularly with ethnomusicologist and composer Vlastislav Matoušek and it has premiered many of his works.
