String quartet № 1 “et lux in tenebris lucet“ - Jiří Kabát

2. červen 2015

Smyčcový kvartet č. 1 "et lux in tenebris lucet" - Jiří Kabát|foto:Nakladatelství ČRo

String quartet № 1 “et lux in tenebris lucet“ was composed mostly during a summer school at the Meadowmount School of Music in the United States. It is freely inspired by a book by Viktor Emanuel Frankl “And Still Say Yes to Life“. In the book, Frankl describes the fight between the horrifying reality of a Nazi concentration camp and his fantasies about an ideal life – his positive thinking that helped him to live through all the horror. The fight of these two antagonistic “realities“ inspired the quartet.

In 2012 Jiří Kabát graduated from Jiří Gemrot composition class. His graduation composition Symphony № 1 “Te Deum“ was performed by Czech Radio Orchestra in Rudolfinum. He writes chamber music (3 string quartets, piano quintet, trio, Fantasia on Plainsong “Saint Wenceslas“ etc.), orchestral and symphonic music (orchestral overture, 3 concertos for a solo instrument with orchestra accompaniment, Fantasia for Violin and Orchestra). In 2011 he was awarded the first prize and an extraordinary award for the absolute winer of the second year of Antonín Dvořák International Competition for Composers. His works were performed i.e. at the Festival International Echternach, in a chamber cycle of FOK orchestra and Czech Philharmony, Östergötlands Musikdagar, Festival du Lubéron, Festival de Quatuors à Cordes en Pays de Fayence etc. He was awarded OSA prize for the most successful composer of classic music in 2013.

Other compositions by Jiří Kabát published in Czech Radio:
Concert Variations on Dvořák's theme for Cello/Viola and Piano

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