concert music
A selection of my notable concert works,
from most recent onward
photo by Pavel Hejny
Came Knockin’ On My Soul (2025)
Composed for BERG Orchestra on the occasion of its 25th anniversary season finale. 25x2... 25 years... 25 composers.
Premiered on December 8th, 2025, at DOX+.
BERG Orchestra, conducted by Peter Vrábel.
"Sometimes it just so happens that someone enters our soul. Sometimes they knock gently, other times they bang loudly, or in some occasion they kick and break down the door. We humans like to keep our soul locked and protected. Well who would leave them wide open? What should we let in, what must we force out, and what should we turn away from? That is the question."
photo by Marek Olbrzymek and others
photo by Marek Olbrzymek and others
The Little Joys (2025)
Comissioned by Trio Aperto, a project based on the research of oboist Barbora Šteflová, who, as part of her dissertation, created a catalogue of Czech oboe compositions from the second half of the twentieth century. In 2019, the trio won third prize at the AEMC Montecassiano International Chamber Ensemble Competition, combined with a concert in the Italian town of Campregheri.
Premiered by Trio Aperto on October 8th, 2025, at Villa Löw-Beer.
Jan Charfreitag (clarinet), Barbora Šteflová (oboe), Pavel Horák (bassoon).
The piece was subsequently recorded by Český rozhlas on March 31st, 2026.
Composer's program note:
"This piece is a personal celebration of life’s small, everyday moments, actions, and occurrences. Though they may appear repetitive, insignificant, or mundane, I believe it is within them that true joy and meaning reside. The art lies in learning to take pure pleasure in the smallest things and in carrying out simple, ordinary acts with care and devotion."
Something worth mentioning is that The Little Joys employs a looper pedal that sustains clarinet multiphonics or tutti textures while the trio plays over the loops. This was a great deal of fun to explore, while also creating an additional challenge for the performers - one that they ultimately handled brilliantly.
photo by Jana Ščarbakowa
And The Cold Was Tinged With Iron (2025)
Commissioned by Bianka Soukupová for her master's degree concert. I'm very greatful that I had a chance to compose a rather demanding piece for these great musicians and that Bianka gave me a total freedom in my writing.
Premiered on April 17th, 2025, at JAMU Brno.
Performers: Bianka Soukupová (horn), Radek Jablonovský (prepared
piano), Anežka Nováková (prepared marimba, small gong)
"...and the cold was tinged with iron,
my tongue swelled, bitter and sharp,
frost burned within my nostrils' grasp,
ash veiled my fingertips, gray and stark,
...and the cold was tinged with iron."
photo by Milan Mošna
photo by Milan Mošna, with my talented colleagues (from the left): Jan Ryant Dřízal, Barbora Tomášková, Michael Wendeberg, Haštal Hapka (and I'm the awkward one again)
Awakening (2024/2025)
Commissioned by Prague Spring Festival and the legendary Ensemble Modern.
Premiered at 80th Prague Spring Festival, May 30th, 2025, at DOX+.
Ensemble Modern, conducted by Michael Wendeberg.
Dedicated to my dear partner Emily Yi-Shyuan Chen.
Awakening draws (somewhat unusually for me) on an extra-musical narrative, though it remains secondary in hierarchy. On the surface, the piece once again revolves around my favorite elements: a play of timbres, instrumental experimentation, textures, and soundscapes. Beneath this, however, I outline a far-from-complete journey. A path of opening one’s eyes and heart, stepping out of one’s comfort zone, letting in different cultural and environmental elements, learning true empathy, and breaking through one’s own bubble. A journey I embarked on largely thanks to my wonderful partner, Emily. Although this is a deeply personal experience, I believe that this process of awakening should concern us all.
What originally drew me to Ensemble Modern (and continues to excite me to this day) is their absolutely outstanding album Ensemble Modern Plays Frank Zappa: Greggery Peccary & Other Persuasions. I love their energy, their sensitivity to detail, and their enthusiasm for every small tone, sound, and noise - something that radiates so strongly from their performances.
photo by Milan Mošna
photo by Karel Šuster
photo by Karel Šuster
The Abyss (2024)
Composed originally in 2022, the premiere was postponed by the pandemic multiple times until it seemed like there won't be a chance to perform this piece anymore. Luckily, BERG Orchestra made the late premier possible when including The Abyss on the concert SOUNDSPACE - DREAMS OF GENERATION Y | ... sound immersion.
Premiered on June 10th, 2024, at Gabriel Loci,
conducted by Petr Louženský.
The dear performers: Kateřina Škardová, Veronika Coganová, Tereza Kosková, Zlata Vohryzková, Anna Paulová, Irvin Venyš, Michal Kostiuk.
"The ending feels like a view from the bottom of an abyss.
After such a long fall, after longing for solid ground beneath one’s feet, it finally arrives - only to leave one unable to move."
Vojtěch Šembera
Textures, colors and dreams of generation Y
HISvoice
Composer's program note:
"The idea behind the piece came from a dream I had: I was sitting on the floor in a dim room. About 10-15 meters tall bar chairs were forming a circle around me. On these chairs, skinny, greyskinned, elongated entities with long heads were sitting and holding these clarinet like instruments, with wide trumpet-like bells pointed right on me."
This dream sparked the idea of creating a spatial piece for seven clarinets. I decided to primarily work with multiphonics, which, to me, possess a distinctly dreamy quality. Toward the end of the piece, the performers suddenly switch to a more conventional playing style while retaining some of the microtonal deviations inherent in the multiphonics. Players 6 and 7 also switch to bass clarinets during the piece. Each player has bamboo chimes hanging from their music stand. The performers are seated in a circle around the audience, in the order shown on the side.
The piece uses 8 different spatial concepts:
1. CANDLES
A sequence of 5 chords (simplified: Cmaj7add6, D-add2, B-b4, A-addd2, Fø7). The chords serve as the central motif of the piece, repeated numerous times with slight variations. Everything else either emerges from or recedes into the Candles. The movement within the circle is dispersed and vibrato plays a significant role here.
2. SHIFTING
Clockwise and anticlockwise rotation of similar multiphonics.
3. BRICKS
A pattern of four short chords always played by adjacent players.
4. IMPLOSION
A sudden tutti, loud and dissonant, fading out in a scattered fashion.
5. FILTRATION
Initially consonant multiphonics become progressively more dissonant, followed by filtering out dissonant elements, and ultimately leaving only the consonant elements again.
6. CATCH
Two parallel movements around the circle, trying to catch each other.
7. LONE SURVIVOR
A brief and abrupt tutti chord, loud and dissonant, is followed by a single soft multiphonic and chimes.
8. BREATHING CHAMBERS
Two alternating chords, situated on opposite sides of the circle, resembles a soothing breath.
with composer and guitar player František Chaloupka
Ishan't (2023)
Commissioned by Prague Spring Festival and the superb Klangforum Wien.
Premiered at at 78th Prague Spring Festival, May 27th, 2023, at DOX+.
Klangforum Wien, conducted by Peter Rundel.
Dedicated to my dear grandmother Věra, who made sure I practised my violin and always had enough Szegedin goulash as a kid.
Klangforum Wien absolutely blew my mind with their precise and flawless performance. Although a compact peace, Ishan't is packed with many textures and gestures. In the second half of the peace, a devilish clarinet solo takes place (exclently tackled by Ettore Biagi), my personal celebration of this instrument.
"Ishan’t is my first dedicated composition, written for my grandmother, Věra Šabacká, who was an opera singer and, above all, a vital presence in my early musical discovery. Fragments of her beloved repertoire - Antonín Dvořák’s Biblical Songs - find their way into the piece, subtly woven into its background."
The entire concert, in which I shared the stage with other dear colleagues - as well as the absolute legend Georg Friedrich Haas - was released on CD and can be purchased (link embedded in the cover art photo below). I had a brief moment to talk to Mr. Haas and it was an absolute pleasure.
photo by Karel Šuster
photo by Karel Šuster, baritone singer, performer and composer Vojtěch Šembera
Resonant (2023)
Commissioned by the lovely BERG Orchestra, in collaboration with Vojtěch Šembera.
Premiered at INVISIBLE SIGNALS | ... human existence, community and solitude, November 6th, 2023, at Archa Theatre.
BERG Orchestra, conducted by Peter Vrábel.
"One is usually surrounded by a community, yet many people feel lonely. The (in)ability to communicate both unites and divides. These paradoxes accompany our lives from birth to death; the extreme solution may be to leave the world voluntarily. But communication is usually enriching – as in the relationship between teacher and student. Compositions by renowned composer Martin Smolka will meet with a new work by his graduate Pavel Šabacký, and the evening will be complemented thematically with work by Sarah Nemtsov (Germany)."
It was a great honor and a challenge to write a piece for Vojta, with whom I have occasionally collaborated before, both as a composer and a performer. Our friendship began during our time at the academy, and although our compositional styles are quite different, I feel that we have always appreciated each other’s work.
photo by Karel Šuster
photo by Karel Šuster
with Bas Weigers
HEXXA (2022)
In 2022 I was invited to take part in Prague Spring Festival Reading Lessons. I wrote a small ensemble piece HEXXA, at the time intrigued by "korean unisono" and hexatonic scales. Klangforum Wien ensemble awarded me first place, granting me the opportunity to receive a larger commission for the following year.
Premiered at Prague Offspring, May 28th, 2022, at DOX+.
Klanforum Wien, conducted by Bas Wiegers.
"Hexxa began with the construction of a specific six-note scale (E, F♯, G♯, A♯, B, D). The opening section unfolds through instrumental layering, with each newly entering voice introducing another pitch until the scale is complete. Short melodic fragments derived from it emerge in a kind of unstable unison, disrupted by polyrhythms and microtonality. Contrasting sections place detuned harmonies above a sustained string drone, while the winds flutter over extended glissandi. The most dramatic passage evokes the uneasy ticking of time, like a set of worn, creaking clocks.
In the end, everything settles and brightens: the winds alternate in brief melodic gestures beneath a luminous canopy of string harmonics."
photo by Jan Hromadko
photo by Jan Hromadko, Michal Nejtek conducting his piece
Suphrydolyan (2021)
Commissioned by the amazing Jazz Dock Orchestra.
Premiered at Unexpected Encounter, Vol. 2, December 16th, 2021, at Archa Theatre.
Jazz dock Orchestra, conducted by Pavel Šabacký.
Big thanks to Michal Nejtek for connecting me to this occasion.
"In October last year, the top Czech big band Jazz Dock Orchestra met for the first time with contemporary classical music written by young authors. After the success of this project, the Archa Theater presents its continuation. There will be six premieres of compositions written by the orchestra directly on the body.
How will the encounter of sophisticated scores and non-jazz concepts with opulent sound, rhythmic drive and unfettered improvisation turn out?"
The Jazz Dock Orchestra is a modern jazz big band of European level focused on original compositions and interpretations of the classic big band songbook. In the six years of its successful existence, the orchestra has become the "flagship" of the Jazz Dock club and has worked with world class musicians such as Kurt Elling, Richard Bona, Ben Wendel, Niels Klein and others. Precise yet lively interplay, great solos and quality scores have brought the big band great renown in the wider context of the European jazz scene. The orchestra's work focuses on its own original compositions (especially those of Jan Jirucha, Andy Schofield, and Miroslav Hloucal), but also on high-quality arrangements of the world repertoire (Duke Ellington, Gill Evans, Bob Brookmeyer, Charles Mingus, etc.).
Daniel Costello
Lone Interlocutions on Floaty Peaks (2020)
This piece was my contribution to the Call for Works for Horn,
MicroFest Prague 2020 hosted by the Czech Institute for Microtonal Music.
To my great surprise, I placed among the top three (alongside Michael Mikulka and Louis Aguirre), and my work was subsequently selected to be performed by the outstanding Daniel Costello.
The concept behind the piece is that, although it is written for a single horn player, it consists of three staves. The performer follows a set of rules (explained at the beginning of the score) to switch between them, potentially creating substantially different results with each performance. Another central aspect of the piece is the exploration of extremely small microtonal intervals, taking advantage of the French horn’s ability to produce a wide range of natural harmonics with relative ease.
excerpt from Lone Interlocutions on Floaty Peaks
photo by Vojtěch Kába, (from left) Vojtěch Šembera, Hana Foss, me, Martin Švec (being carried), Daniel Šimek (2018)
photo by Rudolf Dobiáš, concert at Punctum (March 3rd, 2019)
concert at Pilsen with a bigger lineup, joined by Anna Neugebauerová on violin, Ema Tresová on dulcimer, Alžběta Sikorova on piano, (October 28th, 2019)
Take Me To Places Nobody Owns (2019) & Leemtes (2018)
It was in March 2018 that Mirror Ensemble was officially founded by my dear friend Daniel Šimek. A group of composers and performers, all dear friends: Vojtěch Šembera (piano, composition), Hana Foss (bass recorder, electronics, composition), Martin Švec (percussion), me (clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, composition), and of course aforementioned leader Daniel Šimek (piano, composition, conductor).
The ensemble later expanded - bringing in an additional percussionist, a jazz trumpeter, a violinist, and even a dulcimer player - but was unfortunately brought to an end by the pandemic lockdown.
Leemtes was my first piece for Mirror Ensemble and, tellingly, my first work in which I imposed strict limitations on my compositional process. I ultimately worked with just four primary pitches and four “mirrored” ones. The latter were derived from specific preparations of the piano strings, emerging as secondary byproducts of the main pitches.
Premiered on December 29, 2018, at JAMU.
Recorded at the Orlí Theatre on April 9th, 2019
Mirror Ensemble, conducted by Daniel Šimek.
The second composition, Take Me To Places Nobody Owns, was written for our expanded lineup: tenor saxophone, trumpet (Michal Cálik), violin (Anna Neugebauerová), drum set, piano (Alžběta Sikorová), dulcimer (Ema Tresová), synth 1 (Radek Jablonovský), synth 2 and conductor (Daniel Šimek).
The piece was rather openly inspired by math rock and math jazz, as well as by the music of Tigran Hamasyan, whom I absolutely adore.
Unfortunately, the pandemic lockdown around 2020 dealt a fatal blow to the ensemble. Everyone gradually drifted in their own direction, and although most of us stayed in touch, the stars never quite aligned for us to come together again.
What remains are the many wonderful memories.
photo by Eva Svobodová, concert at Music Lab (February 25th, 2020)
Leemtes was includeed on the album above, available on Bandcamp
Limited Rising (2018)
Written for the occasion of newmusic+, JAMU - RC Connections 2018, a collaboration between JAMU and Royal Conservatory of Music den Haag.
Premiered on October 17th, 2018, JAMU, conducted by Robert Ferrer.
Temporary ensemble formed from both JAMU and Royal Conservatory of Music den Haag players: Vasilina Yfanti (flute), Simão Paredes Ramos (alt saxophone), Niels Pfeffer (guitar), Vojtěch Drnek (accordion), Kristýna Švihálková (percussion), Martin Matuška (double bass).
Limited Rising is based on a sequence of ascending suspended chords drawn from J. S. Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV 847. It was this very piece that sparked my interest in unusual instrumental lineups.
There was a second concert a few days after the premiere in Hague, and I am very grateful that I was able to attend.
Gesang (2016)
Commissioned by the amazing Jazz Dock Orchestra.
Premiered on April 26th, 2016, at fallout bunker 10-Z.
Solo voice Hana Hána, violin players from Brno Philharmonic (Irena Hůrková, Alena Pavlušová, Lenka Zichová), conducted by Pavel Šabacký.
A three-movement work for solo voice, three violins, and electronics. The piece started by activating the bunker's siren. The text was inspired by my grandmother’s stories from the Second World War.
Many thanks to 10-Z and Joel Hána, without whom this concert would not have been possible.
with lovely Hana Hána
from the left: Irena Hůrková, Alena Pavlušová, Lenka Zichová