Roman Válek

Roman Válek, a successful Czech conductor who specializes in large vocal-instrumental titles. He is the founder and chief conductor of the Czech Ensemble Baroque, which focuses on music of the 17th to 19th centuries in the spirit of stylistic interpretation. His artistic credo is to bring key works of Renaissance, Baroque and Classical literature to the Czech stage in a contemporary interpretation.

The great breadth of Roman Válek’s repertoire is also evidenced by his collaboration with other important contemporary ensembles (orchestras – Prague Chamber Philharmonic, Brno Philharmonic, Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, FOK Chamber Orchestra, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Zlín and others, opera houses: the National Theatre Opera in Prague, the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre Ostrava, etc. Prague Philharmonic Choir, Prague Chamber Choir, Ars Brunensis Chorus, Brno Academic Choir, Madrigal Quintet Brno, etc.). Albrecht, G. Delogu, N. Moldoveanu, etc. He has been invited to major music festivals (Prague Spring, Smetana Litomyšl, Janáček May, Europäische Kirche musik Schwäbish Gmünd (D), NDR Musik festival Hamburg (D), WDR Musik festival (D), Festival Radovljica (SLO).

He is chief conductor of the opera staggione of the Znojmo Music Festival, founder of the Summer School of Baroque Music, focusing on 18th century oratorios, and of the Trebic Opera Festival.

In the field of authentic interpretation he worked as a conductor with the orchestras Musica Aeterna Bratislava, Musica Florea, Solamente Naturali Bratislava and important soloists in this field. Farkas, D. James, A. Plachetka, B. M. Willi, F. Brüggen, A. di Marchi, J. Griffith, M. Brown, Ch. Genz, J. F. Lombard, A. Mikolajczik, J. Frederiksen, M. Knoblochová, P. Zajíček, M. Štryncl, L. Peterková and many others.

Since 2005 he has given several Czech premieres of important operas: A. Vivaldi – Dorilla in Tempe, H. Purcell – King Arthur, J. Mysliveček – Montezuma.

He has made recordings for WDR, NDR, Radio France, Czech Radio, Czech Television and almost 30 CD titles for Pickwick Allegro London, Wienna Modern Masters, Marimba Classic DE, Supraphon, Panton and others. He has received numerous awards, such as the A. Radok Award for the realization of the melodrama Z. Fibich’s The Death of Hippodamia, the Diapason Magazine Award for the recording of the complete madrigals of B. Martinů.

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