What's new with us

For just under two weeks, Horažďovice once again became one of the main centers of string playing. The violin classes were led by Jan Fišer, Josef Špaček, and Adéla Štajnochrová, the viola classes by Jiří Kabát, the cello classes by Tomáš Jamník, Vilém Vlček, and Petra Malíšková, and the double bass classes by Tomáš Karpíšek. It has become a tradition for the established Czech teaching team to invite foreign lecturers to collaborate. In the opening days, senior violinists were led by Júlia Pusker, a phenomenal Hungarian violinist who, in addition to teaching, captivated the audience with her performance of Bartók's Rhapsody for Violin and Piano. The junior violinists were taken under the wing of Japanese-German teacher Michiko Feuerlein, who gave them a glimpse into her own fascinating method combining elements of several violin methods, including Suzuki and Ševčík. The viola class was led in the second week by Andreas Willwohl, a member of the Mandelring Quartett and professor at the Nuremberg University of Music. Andreas performed part of a viola sonata by British composer Rebecca Clarke during his recital. This year, the double bass class was coached by Piotr Zimnik, a Polish double bassist and member of the Berlin Philharmonic.

One of the novelties of the seventh year was the opening of a quartet class, which attracted three outstanding string quartets: the Siebeneichener Quartett, the Janeček String Quartet, and the Suk Quartet. The members of the ensembles had the option of participating in quartet classes only or in a combination of quartet and individual lessons. Their teachers were Jan Fišer, Jiří Kabát, and Andreas Willwohl. Cellist Peter Jarůšek, a member of the Pavel Haas Quartet, currently ranked among the world's best chamber ensembles, came to teach at the special invitation of the academy. Another innovation was the opening of a wind class led by Barbora Trnčíková, principal oboist of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Twelve talented wind instrument students had the opportunity to work in chamber masterclasses and perform together as part of the Ševčík Academy Orchestra. Conductor Jakub Hrůša chose Jan Sedláček as his young colleague for this year, who took on both orchestral concerts of the Otakar Ševčík Festival.

An important part of the academy is the singing class led by mezzo-soprano Markéta Cukrová. This year, the singers performed at four festival concerts. Veronika Movsesyan, a participant in the singing class, made her debut accompanied by the Ševčík Academy Orchestra and Jan Sedláček in an aria from Smetana's opera Hubička. Lenka Navrátilová provides the piano accompaniment, and it is also worth mentioning all the other excellent pianists of the Ševčík Academy: Renata Lichnovská, Pavol Praženica, Martin Levický, Silvie Ježková, Stanislav Gallin, Klára Skalková, and Jiřina Marešová Dvořáková.

This year's festival concerts offered seventeen concerts, which were sold out with only a few exceptions. As usual, the concert weekend, which presented all the academy participants, including their lecturers, attracted a lot of interest. The imaginary highlight of the festival was, as usual, the open-air concert on Mírové náměstí, which opened with Ševčík's "anthem," his most famous Etude No. 5, arranged for string ensemble. The premiere of another children's symphony was provided by Milan Hybler, who composed Three Paths for a children's string orchestra and percussion, performed by the Otakárky, the youngest participants of the academy, led by Eva Jamníková and Nikola Bartošová. Conductor Jan Sedláček and the junior orchestra prepared Václav Vodička's Sinfonia in C major, expertly led from the first desk by violinist Lara Tamcan. The performance of Edvard Grieg's From Holberg's Time by the Ševčík Academy Orchestra and conductor Jakub Hrůša was phenomenal. Jakub Hrůša has been a supporter of the Ševčík Academy from the very beginning, and the audience in Horažďovice (and this year in Písek!) rewarded his loyalty with record attendance and long-lasting applause.

In addition to the academy and festival, the third pillar is the seminar section. Every year, it organizes seminars and workshops, the theme of which this year was "Improvisation and Freedom." Participants and the public had the opportunity to attend an introductory debate between anthropologist Ondřej Skripnik, violin maker Jan Sokol, and conductor Jakub Hrůša on the topic of "Freedom, and what to do with it?" Over the following days, those interested explored the possibilities of composing cadences for instrumental concerts and graphic scores, i.e., forms of writing music using images. The festival guests included the jazz string trio S.V.A., which captivated the audience with an hour-long recital in the atrium of the Horažďovice Castle and then taught students how to perform unconventional elements from the field of jazz music. The Otakar Ševčík Festival was also attended by renowned organist Přemysl Kšica, who spoke about the possibilities of Baroque improvisation and the colors of organ registers.

This year's academy, festival, and seminar attracted more than a hundred participants from all corners of the world. For the excellent organizational team led by executive director Barbora Jodas, this is both a compliment and a commitment for future years. Participants return to Horažďovice from various parts of the world; three participants from Ukraine traveled 35 hours to be with us. The journeys to Horažďovice are different, but they have one thing in common—at the end of them, you will find a place where music is the main language of communication and where anyone with an open heart has a place.