A well-known conductor, composer, and music arranger, Zahradník first attended and finished a civil engineering high school, before commencing his studies at the Prague Conservatory. Here he graduated in the field of composition and conducting, having studied the former with František Kovaříček and Zdeněk Hůla, and the latter with František Hertl. During his studies he earned his living as a pianist and conductor at the Theatre of Jiří Wolker. Later on he became a member of Quax, an experimental ensemble led by Petr Kotík. From 1973 to 1990 he held the position of chief conductor of the Czechoslovak Television Orchestra, with which he participated in many music-entertainment programmes.
One of the most prominent representatives of Czech popular and dance music, Václav Vačkář studied the violin and the flugelhorn as a child, and was a member of a local band in his hometown of Dobřejovice. Because of his social position he could not afford to study at a conservatory. He thus enrolled as an apprentice with a military band. After three years, however, he was invalided out of military service owing to a hearing disorder. Afterwards, he became a soloist in a concert orchestra in czarist Russia. From the age of nineteen, he worked for several years as a conductor of Josef Faltys' theatrical company.
An author of concert, film, and popular music, D. C. Vačkář was born to the family of a composer, music life organizer, and conductor Václav Vačkář. In the years 1922 - 29 he attended the Prague conservatory, studying violin with Rudolf Reissig and composition with Otakar Šína. He then went on to the Master School where he studied violin with Karel Hoffmann and composition with Josef Suk. He also applied himself to conducting that he studied under Otakar Ostrčil. For one year Vačkář was a member of Jaroslav Ježek's Orchestra at the Liberated Theatre, and together with Ježek and E. F. Burian he worked for the revolutionary group Devětsil (Butterbur). Between 1934 and 1945 he was a member of the Czechoslovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, and from 1945 to 1947 he worked as a screenwriter and dramaturge in a film studio.
Born to the family of an oboist, composer, and pedagogue Jindřich Vacek, Miloš Vacek attended the Prague Conservatory in 1943 - 47, studying organ with Jan Bedřich Krajs, Gregorian chant and theoretical subjects with Vladimír Němec, Metod Doležil, Zdeněk Hůla, and Emil Hlobil, and conducting with Pavel Dědeček. Afterwards, he entered the Music Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts to study composition under František Pícha and Jaroslav Řídký. He graduated in 1951, and in the same year he took up the position of choirmaster and conductor of the Vít Nejedlý Army Art Ensemble. For some time he held high functions within the Union of Czech Composers and Concert Artists. Since 1954 he has been a freelance composer.
He first studied at electrotechnical high school and then after graduating (in 1964) he started to work as a constructor. Since he was fifteen years old, he was interested in composition. He studied at the Academy of Performing Arts in the composition class of J. Pauer (1970 - 75). He graduated with the 1st symphony for large orchestra. Two month studies at Frank Donatoni composer classes in Italian Siena (1973) and a two year postgraduate course of musical Tudory with K. Risinger (1977 - 79) deepened his composition experience. From 1975 to 1977 he was the head of the musical archival collection at the Academy of Performing Arts and later he started teaching: from 1978 he was teaching composition analysis.
The character of his compositional production earned him the nickname "the last Prague Baroque master", since he composes exclusively in the style of the 17th- and 18th-century music. He writes both sacred and secular music, and his compositions are often recorded (e.g. for companies such as Auviere, V + M Agency, The Holy Mountain or Lupulus). He applies himself to studying the music of old masters, and has processed and reconstructed many scores of early music.
Zdeněk Šesták was born on 10th December 1925 in the town of Cítoliby near Louny. During his grammar school years he studied music in Louny and, at the same time, he held the position of the second organist at St. Jacob Church in Cítoliby. After the war he studied composition at the Prague Conservatory, where he was taught by Emil Hlobil and Miroslav Krejčí. He also studied musicology at the Philosophical Faculty, Charles University in Prague, under Josef Hutter and Jan Němeček; he became a Doctor of Philosophy (PhDr.) in 1991.
Jiří Srnka studied violin (under Prof. J. Mařák and J. Feld) and composition (under Ot. Šín) at the Prague Conservatory between the years 1924 and 1928, he then continued his studies at the Master's school of the Prague Conservatory under V. Novák (1928-1932) and also under Alois Hába. Initially he worked not only as a violin player but together with Karel Ančerl also as a conductor of Jaroslav Ježek's orchestra at "The Liberated Theatre". Since 1934 he had put his efforts chiefly into compositions for motion-pictures. Between 1948 and 1953 he was conducting the Motion-Picture Music Department at FAMU (Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague).
He studied flute and conducting at the Prague Conservatory, finishing it in 1989. Afterwards, he entered the Music Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts where he graduated in 1995 in the field of conducting, harpsichord, and opera direction. He attended Hoogeschool de Kunste in Utrecht, The Netherlands, where he studied harpsichord and early music interpretation. He also took part in various master courses led by Helmut Rilling, Johann Sonnleitner or Kenneth Gilbert. Following his studies he started working as a conductor and director. He aroused deserved public notice on the occasion of a performance of the Bartered Bride at the National Theatre he conducted on short notice, standing in for Bohumil Gregor. He also won recognition for preparing and conducting performances of several vocal-instrumental works, mainly of early music.
A composer, musicologist, music director, pedagogue, Smolka belongs to the generation that entered the music scene in the 1950s. In 1956 he graduated from Charles University in the field of musicology, and from 1960 to 1964 he undertook doctoral studies in music history under Mirko Očadlík. He also studied composition at the Academy of Performing Arts with Václav Dobiáš in 1953 - 55. Karel Janeček, Smolka's instructor in music theory, influenced his student both as an artist and as a scientist. Since 1962 Smolka has been teaching history of music at the Department of Music History and Theory at the Music Faculty of the Academy.
Born to the family of Antonín Sluka, an amateur musician, Luboš Sluka found his way to music and piano already in his childhood. At first, however, he worked in his hometown of Opočno as a typographer, and conducted local vocal groups. Only at the age of twenty-two did he enter the Prague Conservatory. He attended this school from 1950 to 1955, studying conducting with Bohumil Špidra and Alois Klíma, percussion with E. Špaček, and composition with František Pícha and Miroslav Krejčí. After graduation, he continued his studies at the Music Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts where he was taught by Jaroslav Řídký and from 1956 by Pavel Bořkovec. He also studied film and incidental music under Václav Trojan. For a short time Sluka was employed by the Czech Television as a dramaturge (1962 - 63). He co-founded and was the general editor of Panton, the publishing house of the Czech Music Fund (1969 - 76) where he particularly promoted Bohuslav Martinů's music.
Composer, Lecturer, Music Writer, Recording Director. He studied Musicology (Charles University, Prague, 1965-70, PhDr. 1972), Composition (Janáček Academy Brno, 1968-73) and Music Theory (Music Academy, Prague 1970-72). Slavicky worked like Recording Director, Senior Producer Classic (Supraphon Prague, 1973-81), Producer of Electroacoustic Music (Czechoslovak Radio, 1981-82), Freelance composer, producer, music writer (1982-90), Assistant Professor (1990-97), Associated Professor (1997-2001) and Professor (since 2002) at the Charles University Prague (Musicology) and at the Music Academy Prague (Composition).
A composer and significant music theoretician, Rut studied violin at the Prague Conservatory with Bedřich Voldan at first. He finished these studies in 1951, and in 1950 he also graduated in the field of choir conducting that he had studied under Bohumír Špidra. He started his private composition training under Jaroslav Řídký (1952 - 54), and continued under Emil Hradecký, who introduced Rut into the field of music theory.
In 1978 he finished his clarinet studies at the Prague Conservatory. In 1982 he became a member of the Czechoslovak and later Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra where he remained until the year 2005. At the present, he works in a specialised music library of the Prague Conservatory as an assistant manager.
A significant Czech musicologist whose main interest lies in the music of the 18th century and his editorial work, Pulkert studied violin from 1942 to 44 at the Conservatory in Brno under Rudolf Jedlička. After the war he attended the grammar school in the town of Hranice na Moravě, finishing it in 1950. He then entered the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University in Prague where he graduated in 1956 in the field of musicology and aesthetics. In 1985 he obtained his doctor's degree at the Philosophical Faculty of Masaryk University in Brno. In the years 1964 - 74 he worked in the music department of the National Library, and he was also engaged as the secretary of the Czechoslovak section of the Association Internationale des Bibliotheques Musicales (1967 - 75) and the executive of the Mozart Community in the Czech Republic (1986 - 96).
