Orchestral
SWIRL is a constant motion of various colliding forces. Based on a modulating passacaglia, the constant sense of vertiginous feeling mixed with in and out of focus compelling harmonic alignment makes the journey through the work tour de force for the orchestra’s interplay facing various challenges in a rhythmic misalignment. Its emotional scope goes from dark to whimsical within one framework and celebrates the powerful unity and drive within the giant ensemble
Through angular lines, gestural motifs and intense harmonies, Tephra reflects the complex interplay of thoughts and emotions, akin to the unpredictable flow of volcanic forces. It captures moments of chaos and clarity, representing the psychological shifts between inner turmoil and contemplation. Tephra invites listeners on a journey through the shifting landscapes, where tumultuous forces shape and transform the inner world with both chaos and introspection.
Inspired by three ever-relevant texts and tunes from three different eras of our modern history, hidden and blurred; still, with moments of clarity of direct, fragmented, and varied quotations – the work delivers a reflection, reconciliation, and imploration for humane values. Yet, there’s a CATCH . . .
My second symphony is about finding the balance between theoretical concepts and personal messages. Handling such a medium and a large-scale requires for me a rational approach, yet with an immense urge to communicate something through music, which resolves in an almost obsessive passion.
BABEL is a personal commentary on nations but also individuals being unable to communicate with each other, listen to each other, as per many recent and concurrent events globally. The idea came with consecutive dreams of seemingly unrelated sets of numbers and surreal storyline motives (…)
Contention and reconciliation could perhaps be the underlying idea of my two-movement first symphony. While the work has no clear programmatic objective, it certainly projects some events from my personal life at that time, and hence, the symphonic medium serves for me as a vehicle to share inexplicitly with the listener.
Large ensemble
Written for Daniel Matejča and commissioned by Jan Prchal. Talks, a concerto for violin and string orchestra, captures the societal essence of conversation. The dichotomy between soloist and ensemble mirrors various types of discourse. Through deep listening, unity is found, echoing the imperative for dialogue within contemporary society. Let the youth speak; listen to them, they will listen to you.
Written for Daniel Matejča and commissioned by Jan Prchal. Talks, a concerto for violin and string orchestra, captures the societal essence of conversation. The dichotomy between soloist and ensemble mirrors various types of discourse. Through deep listening, unity is found, echoing the imperative for dialogue within contemporary society. Let the youth speak; listen to them, they will listen to you.
Commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony. In collaboration with Emma Lanier. Dedicated to Nico Muhly. Flux reflects and challenges the individual perception of time that is so different for everyone, especially during social isolation.
Καυστικός – in English caustic, has two meanings, one relating to another: to burn and to be sharply sarcastic. When one is overly sarcastic, one can easily create emotional burns. Written for the high-school Asawa SOTA Wind Ensemble.
Written for the student ZUS Jablonova String Orchestra for the occasion of the renowned Concerto Bohemia, a national competition of student ensembles. Simplistic, yet harmonically rich Morceau de concours is meant to be a short candy, tailored for the ensemble’s efforts at the competition.
Bílá růže is an In Memoriam of my dear friend, whom had committed a suicide. This piece was written for one-time performance only.
Chamber (2 - 8 players)
Una Risposta investigates the ensemble’s deep listening and close interactions. With sections without conductor, cued by the players themselves through their symbiotic interactions, the piece then navigates through tumultuous states, moving in and out of focus with various heterophonies, close or delayed unisons, canons, and harmonic cycles. This tension is ultimately resolved through a very gradual decay, uniting the entire ensemble in a synchronized, deep breath in and out.
Reciprocity delves into the captivating artistic and human bond shared by Amos and Charles, showcased through their dynamic collaboration as the 2Low Duo. Through an exploration of divergent modes of ensemble communication, the work unfolds as a testament to their unique connection. The piece constructs immersive landscapes of diverse energies, inviting the duo and the audience into a world where symbiosis, clarity, and profound listening are paramount. At its core, Reciprocity serves as a jubilant tribute to the artistry and camaraderie of Amos and Charles, celebrating their enduring friendship and shared creativity.
For my dear friend, Emīlija. Silver Lining delves into hope from adversity. Divergent timbres symbolize challenge and optimism. Crotales evoke silver linings with bright overtones. The shifting tonal balance, from harshness to tenderness, is amplified in resonant spaces, alluding to the complex interplay of life’s emotions. Site-specific, written for the Vapaan Taiten Tila bunker art space in Helsinki.
Commissioned by the Bluvenduo. XII: Antiphōna deals with twelve different musical elements amongst which prominence gets my long-time pushed-back rock background along with prog-rock era tendency to avoid simple four-chord progression. Starting the piece with such, the work showcases facing these hesitations in a more mature manner balancing sophistication and visceral connection, in combination with harmonically and spatially driven ideas.
Commissioned by 2022 Walden School Faculty Commissioning Project, featuring Warp Trio in the world premiere performance. Mezi horami (In the mountains) is a Moravian folk song deeply rooted in my past, influencing much of my early musical taste. The tune and its content carry the weight of a story of an unfortunate death and its subsequent tragic love devotion conveyed in such a lyrical manner, and alleviate the heaviness of passing and transform suffering into beauty. Much like many composers are able to do so, this, too, is my personal search for such means and ability.
Commissioned by M&L.C. and the San Francisco Symphony. Kairós is a large single-movement work reflecting a complex palette of moods, keeping its lyrical undertone throughout. From the Greek mythology, καιρός represents the right time for which this work was summoned as opposed to its counterpart chronos which brings the chronological order of events. We never understand as to why things happen in such a peculiar order. Reminiscent but hopeful in spirit.
For the wonderful Michèle and her eternally young spirit. Written for David Chernyavsky, Amos Yang, and Tin Yi Chelsea Wong. Youth celebrates Michèle’s incredibly young and beautiful spirit that never fails to fascinate me. Its joyful, playful, and at times mysterious character has invited the music to be somewhat rhapsodic in its melodic writing.
Commissioned by The Walden School. For the Hub New Music & The Walden School. 3² is a playful and somewhat shrilling party piece of an ambiguous sonority, and at times, pulse. This ambivalence contributes to my omnipresent feeling whenever I am trying to have a conversation in a bar, and the club music is overwhelmingly preventing me from doing so.
This work is an inward exploration of personal struggles throughout my first two years of my new start in the United States as an artist. All the energy focused in the most intense first movement of my string writing history, where none of the players has a single break throughout the first five-minute movement, is being released in the latter two slow movements.
Nuova prosa – the new prose written for the student internationally acclaimed percussion ensemble Aries for the occasion of the renowned Concerto Bohemia, a national competition of student ensembles. As myself being a former bassist of the ensemble, I scored this work for a 5-string bass, which was my beloved specialty.
Commissioned by and dedicated to my wonderful ex-partner and colleague Marta Schäferová, who is a phenomenal saxophonist and violinist. This work was a predecessor of my later developed urge to write about the idea of a contention and reconciliation for the orchestra – hence, the antecedent underlying idea of my first symphony.
The inspiration for this work has inherently been my treasured experience from a bike trip from Prague to Helsinki, along with my good friend and composer colleague, that we made in the summer 2015.
Solo
Lamentations is an explorative collaborative work with and for my good friend Jan Stránský that started right at the start of the pandemic in March 2020. This is an internal reflection after a series of larger works of a completely divergent kind. Lamentations explore different contexts of a microtonally detuned B string with a heavy scordatura on all the others — the question “how to make this musical” translates into broader encompassing philosophical polemics that bugged me.
Echi___ came to life thanks to an excellent sensitivity and artistry of my profoundly dear ex-partner and colleague Tin Yi Wong. This piece is an exploration of the musical meaning of the acoustics and a little bit of nostalgia reflecting in much of its motivic writing.
Choral
At its core, But Love Is Stronger is a testament to the indomitable power of love to transcend even the darkest of circumstances, offering solace, healing, and the promise of renewal. Through its poignant and stark setting, which weaves together the poetry of Lord Byron, Emily Brontë, Christina Rossetti, and e.e. cummings, the cantata speaks to the universal yearning for connection and the transformational power of love to illuminate the path forward. Using a rich tapestry of allusions and metaphors, it does not follow a linear story but paints vivid scenes and evolving mental states, capturing the complexities of starting anew amidst the weight of the past. From the depths of sorrow to the hopeful dawn of new beginnings, the performer and the listener navigate a chiaroscuro of optimism and darker reminiscence, reflecting the nuanced emotions inherent in the transformative journey
To understand, with pure discerning mind, the lofty Thunderer’s laws Look up to the heights of the topmost heaven; There, bound by the just covenant of creation, stars keep the ancient peace. Always with fair exchange of time Vesper announces late shades of night And Lucifer brings back the kindly day. So mutual love renews eternal motions, So from those star-strewn regions Discordant war is banished.
Dedicated to Punkt Choir and its Artistic Director Alena Jelínková. Nová míza is a reflection of a symbiosis of turmoil and young deeply rooted optimism. Based on composer’s authorial poem.
MdadaZ is a political satire written for Punkt Choir. The idea was to turn a certain speech full of abomination into nonsense. The machinery character of the work ridicules the spokesman’s delivery that is juxtaposed by a call for true values, painted by the medieval anthem of Bohemia.
Written for the EAMA Chorale, this work is a darker and wilder interpretation of Lorca’s ode to guitar, a poem called Dance. In the night of the garden dance six gipsy girls…
Miserereri mei, Deus – Psalm 51. The true imploration of what we really need and what we hunger for. Mercy and love.
Felice primavera (2016) was written for six male voices in light of the celebration of the 450th birth anniversary of a great composer and innovator – Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa.
Kyrie was written for the International Composition Competition in Riga. Kyrie eléison, Christe eléison. Chromatic language combined with electronics and interjecting gestures in the piano paint the urgency.
Art Song / Opera
Distant Echoes offers an immersive exploration of an existential crisis, portraying the fragmented mind of the Singer who yearns for connection but remains isolated throughout the scene. The Singer experiences anhedonia, a newly discovered cognitive disorder characterized by the inability to engage the brain’s reward pathways, rendering him physiologically incapable of feeling pleasure.
As the scene unfolds, the Singer’s emotions evolve, hinting at the potential onset of dysphoria–a state of intense displeasure. This revelation is particularly poignant as it involves the very thing the Singer loves the most and has dedicated his life to: music.
A piece dedicated to a strong mother.
Improvisation
Sphères (2019) is a spatial improvisation where each instrument is electronically live-processed.
Hémisphères (2019) is a spatial improvisation focusing on a surrounding sound overwhelming the hall using one pianist centered on the stage.
Film / Theatre
Three lurchers, three life-stories, three fatal shots. OST for “Pro jednoho jelena navíc” theatre drama.
Music & scores.
Yes, this website is mostly about music. So, welcome, and feel free to explore the portfolio of my select works. On my website, you also have access to browse through some of my scores. Should you like to obtain a score, do not hesitate to contact me.
lessons.
Apart from composing, I am a passionate educator. I believe educating as a whole musician is far more profound and beneficial than focusing on the given discipline and its issues solely. I teach composition, theory, piano and voice.Feel welcomed to reach out to discuss your lesson interests.