ArcoDiva's newest release presents works for oboe performed by Martin Danek, a graduate of the prestigious Hanns Eisler University of Music in Berlin and winner of the 2019 Prague Spring International Competition. He says: "I've been living abroad for a long time, and playing in my own country is always something special", says Mr. Danek. "This is especially true in the case of Prague Spring, with it's festive atmosphere, which I remember from my childhood. The combinations of instruments and works on this program will be unusual, so it will be a unique experience for both the audience and the performers."

Classical Music

Music and art of the 17th and 18th century offers a range of contrasts and colors. It is filled with impressive ostentation and ornaments that contrast with humbleness and simplicity. Attempts to engage human emotions and "attack" them as well as the intention to capture individual emotions and passions are evident in every composition. Every country brings it's own cultural heritage related to the language, traditions, and unique culture of it's people who have been building it for generations. On this album Martin Hroch presents works by French, Italian, and Czech composers. Martin Hroch, a prominent Czech harpsichordist, studied at Janacek Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno. He studied under the harpsichordist B.M. Willi and pianists A. Vlasakova and J. Jirasky. He continued his studies of harpsichord and early music at Hochschule fur Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna. As a soloist and chamber musician he performs with many orchestras and chamber ensembles in the Czech Republic and across Europe. He records for broadcasting and television companies, and is a member of the British Harpsichord Society. He currently serves as a teacher at JAMU in Brno.

Twice a laureate of the International Smetana Piano Competition and a winner of the Bedrich Smetana Prize, Johanna Hanikova studied piano playing at the Janacek Conservatoire in Ostrava with Professor Monika Tugendliebova. During her conservatoire studies she already made her name at national as well as international competitions- 1st prize at Prague Junior Note, 1st prize at Pro Bohemia, and laureate title at the Prague Conservatoire Young Pianists Competition. She is developing her concert activities as a soloist regularly with renowned Czech symphonic orchestras. For this release, she has chosen a programme of well-known composers Ludwig van Beethoven and Sergei Rachmaninoff, Czech composers Bedrich Smetana and Leos Janacek, and contemporary composer and pianist Adam Skoumal.

On this new release, two outstanding instrumentalists, Miriam Rodriguez Brullova and Petr Nouzovsky, have recorded songs from the world champions of classical music- Faure, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Ravel, Schubert, and others. This release is a demonstration of the supreme virtuosity of both performers, and the juxtaposition of guitar and cello, a rarely heard combination, creates interesting sound combinations. Guitarist Miriam Rodriguez Brullova studied at the State Conservatory in Bratislava. After receiving a degree in interpretation and pedagogy, she studied with Alvaro Pierri at Universite du Quebec a Montreal and Universite Laval in Quebec City. She has performed as a soloist alongside ensembles like the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, North Czech Philharmonic, and others. Czech cellist Petr Nouzovsky has embarked upon an impressive career. He made his debut in Amsterdam’s famed Concergebouw Hall in 2008. Since then, he has regularly appeared in major venues in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyoto, Alger, The Hague, and Buenos Aires.

The guitar is most often and rightly linked to Spanish music and Spanish composers. These recordings of the Prague Guitar Quartet are all dedicated to works by Spanish composers, be they original four-guitar compositions or transcriptions. The Prague Guitar Quartet was founded in 1984 at the Prague Conservatoite. Its present lineup is Marek Veleminsky, Matej Freml, Vaclav Kucera, and Patrick Vacik. All the four guitarists of this exceptionally successful ensemble are leading artists and laureates of a number of domestic as well as international competitions. The Quartet appears at many prestigious festivals and has, during its 30 years’ career, toured in most countries in Europe, in the USA and in the Middle East. Many of the Prague Guitar Quartet’s stylistically sophisticated and musically accomplished interpretations have been recorded, and the ensemble has initiated the composition of a number of original works by Czech as well as world authors. Beside original works for four guitars, the Quartet also draws on a repertoire of transcriptions from different periods.

The pianist Marek Koz�k is a student at the Music and Dance Faculty of the Prague Academy of Performing Arts in the class of Prof. Ivan Kl�nsk�. In February 2018 he won the European Piano Competition in Bremen. To his other achievements belong winning second place in the Prague Spring Competition 2016, where he was praised for his performance of the work Kejkl�r (Jongleur) by the contemporary Czech composer Adam Skoumal- you can listen to that work on this recording. Other composers on this recording come from the Romantic era - C�ar Franck, Fryderyk Chopin and Sergei Rachmaninoff. The last covered composer is classicistic Joseph Haydn with his Sonata in E Major.

Petrof Piano Trio is one of the best Czech ensembles in chamber music as well as the ensemble in residence of the famous company Petrof, which has been producing quality pianos for almost two centuries. Since 2011 the ensemble has also been resident trio at the International Chamber Music Course in Zabreh na Morave, where the members are also instructors. The ensemble was created in 2009 by violist Jan Schulmeister. All three of the members a renowned chamber-music players, and together bring over thirty years’ experience of concert activity to the ensemble. The present recording includes works of German romantic music and interesting arrangements of works by Robert Schumann.

Michal Svoboda was born in Znojmo (Czech Republic) in 1985. He started his guitar studies with Stanislav Jurica at Pardubice conservatory. He studied with Alexander Swete at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and finished his masters degree with honors in 2011. Then he studied with Tomasz Zawirucha at the conservatory in Feldkirch, Austria. Michal has attended a variety of master courses, for instance with Zoran Dukio, Pablo Marquez and Hopkinson Smith, and has also achieved great success at international guitar competitions, including first place at the International Guitar Competition in Treviso and second place at the International Guitar Festival in Gevelsberg. This is his first recording project, for which he has chosen the works of composers Augustin Barrios (1885-1944) and Miguela Llobet (1878-1938).

This new release includes four string quartets by the Czech composer Jaroslav Krcek. The first quartet was written in 2017 at the request of the Czech Philharmonic Quartet. The joyful performance of this piece inspired the composer to write his next two quartets. The fourth is inspired by Leoš Janácek. The Czech Philharmonic Quartet was founded in 2000 as the initiative of Czech Philharmonic members. It’s members are: Štepán Pražák (first violin), Viktor Mazácek (second violin), Jirí Poslední and Jakub Dvorák (violoncello). Their sound has been highly awarded by critics, and revered by fans. They appear regularly in Czech festivals and concerts and also in Japan, Israel, China, Great Britain or Germany. Jaroslav Krcek is very specific composer. He is interested in folk music, old spiritual songs, Christmas carols and in renaissance and baroque compositions. He founded Musica Bohemica ensemble, and has recorded more than 80 albums.

The Czechoslovak trio Trio Clavio was established in 2013 with the help of Polish clarinetist and conductor Jakub Bokun. Since it's successful debut at the Clarimania Festival in Wroclaw, Poland, the ensemble has been performing across Europe. This chamber ensemble put together three distinct musical personalities- pianist Lucie Soutorova Valcova, violinist Lucia Fulka Kopsova, and clarinetist Jana Cernohouzova. All three musicians have Yamaha scholarships and all have performed as soloists or orchestra members with the South Czech Philharmonic, Moravian Philharmonic, Brno Philharmonic, and many others. Trio Clavio was awarded first prize in a competition in Vidnava in 2014, and in 2016 they were awarded first and fourth prize at the International Competition of Chamber Ensebles in Padova Italy. This release features trio works by canon composers Igor Stravinsky and Bela Bartok, as well as works by modern composers like Juraj Filas and Sylvie Bodorova, who wrote these works specifically for Trio Clavio.

For her new release, Marina Samson has recorded four select Mozart piano sonatas in the beautiful Sv. Laurel Church in Prague on the Steinway piano. A child prodigy at the age of 4, Marina Samson-Primachenko has remained so: while becoming a prodigious performer, she has kept the inner soul of her youth. How to hear, other than through the soul, the light and fluid illumination that transcends her playing, how to feel this delicate but deep breath, combined with exquisite delicacy and absolute intensity, other than by watching a child play and enter it's universe. You could say that the art of Marina is self-evident. But that would be to forget early and constant hard work throughout her life, first with the Russian masters in St. Petersburg, then in Moscow, passing through Prague where she taught piano, while being part of the international scene. Her repertoire, varied and original, includes the great composers but also the more obscure. She loves to discover hidden treasures as well as the spark in others and in herself. This allows us to hear a piano that is vibrant with emotion and authenticity, with an incandescent pulse at her fingertips, letting us hear miraculously the very heart and soul that makes Marina Samson-Primachenko a pure artist.

Petrof Piano Trio is an outstanding chamber ensemble, named after the oldest Czech piano maker. For their new release with ArcoDiva, the ensemble recorded the chamber works of Sergei Rachmaninov, César Franck and Josef Suk and as extra bonus short addition compositions of C. Saint-Saens and Astor Piazzolla. All the songs are recorded on the best quality Petrof concert instrument. The Petrof Piano Trio was created in 2009 by Wihan Quartet violinist, Jan Schulmeister. The members are renowned chamber-music players and bring to the ensemble over thirty years’ experience of concert activity. Since 2011 the ensemble has been Resident Trio at the International Chamber Music Course in Zábřeh na Moravě (the Czech Republic), where the members are also instructors. “The Petrofs have got to be one of the finest Piano Trios around today.” (The Strad)

Choir music has been a tradition in the Czech Republic since the nineteenth century, and was a devotion of nearly every important Czech composer. This new release from the Charles University Choir in Prague presents compositions from two important creators of the twentieth century: Petr Eben and Zdenek Luk�. The album is being released in celebration of the 70-year anniversary of choir and was recorded in the stunning acoustics of several churches in Prague. The Charles University Choir in Prague is an eminent Czech nonprofessional choir ensemble composed primarily of students, graduates, and employees of the Charles University and other Prague universities and colleges. It was founded in 1948, and thus is the oldest Czech academic choir.

Bohuslav Martinu is one of the world-famous composers of the 20th century. Inspired by his homeland's tribulations, he composed his Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 1, dedicated to the brilliant French cellist Pierre Fournier. In America he found friends of Czech extraction. One of them was Frank Rybka, who earlier studied music in Brno with Leoš Janácek. The Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 2 is dedicated to Rybka. The Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 3 was composed in France and was dedicated to the memory of Hans Kindler, known to Martinu from his Paris days as an outstanding cellist and later conductor. Petr Nouzovský is being recognized as one of Europe's eminent cellist of his generation. He continues to collaborate with prominent conductors, such as Jakub Hruša, Charles Olivieri-Munroe, Petr Altrichter, Caspar Richter and others. His recording of Bohuslav Martinu's complete works for cello and orchestra was awarded the 2017 Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik and the 2018 Classic Prague Award. Gérard Wyss is much demanded as an accompanist as well as chamber musician, performing all over Europe. He has accompanied world's leading singers and soloists, such as Cecilia Bartoli, Nicolai Gedda and others