Jaroslav Brych, conductor
Daniel Wiesner, piano (V přírodě/ In Nature’s Realm)
Jan Novák: Sulpicia (Amores Sulpiciae) - For four female voices based on texts of Albius Tibullus
Tereza Surovíková: Maturation Of Love - Set of three compositions for a five-part female choir a cappella on the biblical text of the same name - Song of Songs No. 2
Karel Bendl: In Neture's Realm - Twelve duet songs on the words of Vítězslav Hálek
At the end of the 19th century, Karel Bendl (1838-1897) was one of the most respected and generally most popular composers in Bohemia. Through his work, choral conducting, publishing and organizing activities, he achieved great popularity with choirs of all kinds. He was one of the founders of Umělecká beseda and Pražský Hlahol and led Pražský Hlahol as a choirmaster for 12 years. Under his leadership it became the most respected choir in the Bohemian lands at that time. He taught at the Prague Conservatory, worked as a conductor in Prozatímní divadlo in Prague as well as in theatres in Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris, Nice and Lugano. He composed more than 200 choral pieces. He was the first Czech composer who systematically composed for children and youth.
The choral cycle V přírodě (In Nature’s Realm) consisting of twelve duets for soprano and alto accompanied by piano based on the Vítězslav Hálek’s poetry collection of the same name is the most extensive choral cycle among Bendl’s female choir compositions.
Jan Novák (1921–1984), who was born in Nová Říše, studied at Jesuit gymnasium in Velehrad and received classical education at gymnasium in Brno. He developed his musical talent (piano, composition) at the Brno Conservatory with Vilém Petrželka, at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with Pavel Bořkovec, then in the USA with Aaron Copland and privately with Bohuslav Martinů during his stay in New York, which had a great influence on Novák. He became a popular composer of film and scenic music. Other works collided with the doctrine of socialist realism and led to his exclusion from the Composers Association. In 1968 he emigrated to Western Europe where he lived and worked in Denmark, Italy and Germany. He taught at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart. He was buried in Rovereto, Italy, and in 2011 his remains were transported to Brno.
The series for four female voices Amores Sulpiciae (1967) reflects his lifelong passion for Latin, which became the main source of inspiration for most of his compositional work.
Tereza Surovíková (1979) was born in Vsetín. In 2001 she graduated in Leasure time music education at Vyšší odborná škola pedagogická in Litomyšl. In 2016, she also successfully completed her studies in singing at the Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava. She currently works as a solo singing teacher at the Primary Art School in Zlín and leads the children choir Cantica. In addition to singing and conducting, she also composes vocal works for ensembles of various vocal casts on spiritual, biblical, and folk themes. In 2016, she was awarded the second place at the International Composition Competition in Jihlava for the composition Soulad lásky.
The choral cycle Zrání lásky (Maturation of Love) was created upon initiative of the FKPS choirmaster Jaroslav Brych in 2018 and was dedicated to the choir.
The Foerster Female Chamber Choir (FKPS) was founded in 1975 by choirmasters Rudolf Zeman and Libuše Krejčová and a vocal coach Dagmar Součková. The leadership of the three charismatic personalities put the choir on a rapid course into the ranks of the best female choirs. The choir further reinforced its position at the top during the last decade of the 20th century with choirmasters Zdeněk Šulc and Jana Veverková at the helm. The decade-long leadership of conductor Lukáš Vasilek (1998 – 2009) became an important milestone in the history of the choir. Jaroslav Brych has been the body’s choirmaster and artistic director since 2009. The choir’s repertoire is wide and multifaceted with the main emphasis on the music of the 20th and 21st century. Many compositions have been premiered by the choir, and a great number of others have been dedicated to it. The choir enjoys frequent invitations to perform both at home and all over Europe, including prestigious international festivals – the Prague Spring, Brno Music Summer, Festival of International Choral Art in Jihlava to name a few. It has also been awarded and honoured at international competitions in Arezzo, Cork, Debrecen, Florence, Klaip?da, Lindenholzhausen, Maasmechelen, Neuchâtel, Rimini, Riva del Garda,Tours, Vienna, Zwickau, etc. The choir has recorded five of its CDs so far.
Jaroslav Brych graduated from Pardubice Conservatory with a degree in French horn. He then went on to study conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under the tutelige of Václav Neumann, Josef Veselka, and Radomila Eliška and extended the latter studies at Helmuth Rilling’s masterclasses in Stuttgart. Mr. Brych has been involved in leading orchestras as well as accomplished choirs since the start of his artistic career. He was the leading conductor of the Charles University Choir from 1984 to 1997 and the choirmaster of the Prague Philharmonic Choir from 1994 to 2005. Currently, Jaroslav Brych is leading Foerster Female Chamber Choir and Kühn Choir of Prague, he is occasionally invited to cooperate with the Prague Philharmonic Choir and several orchestras. Beside his activities as a conductor and a choirmaster, maestro Brych also teaches at the Music and Dance Faculty the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, The Prague Conservatory and Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory in Prague.
