PERFORMER

1. CONDUCTOR

Conducting plays an important role in Kryštof Mařatka’s career as a composer. He is often led to perform as conductor with symphonic and various other ensembles in programs often built around his own work, but also offering repertoire pieces (Haydn, Mozart, Dvořák, Smetana, Debussy, Martinů...) and compositions by his contemporaries (Pécou, Raskatov, Takemitsu...).

Kryštof Mařatka has directed ensembles such as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Nederlands Kamerorkest at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Prague Philharmonia Orchestra, the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra, the Polish National Radio Orchestra, the Jyvaskyla - Finland Orchestra, the Philharmonia Pomorska Poland, the Ensemble Calliopée, the National Orchestra of Lille, the Talich Chamber Orchestra, the BERG Orchestra, the Soloists of the Prades Festival, the Polish Chamber Choir Gdansk, the Wroclaw Philharmonic Choir, the Nordwestdeutche Philharmonic Herford or the Prague National Opera Orchestra.

Recordings:

2. PIANIST

Kryštof Mařatka also performs as a pianist. The physical relationship to a musical instrument and the confrontation to the art of interpretation conditioned by the mastery of the playing is one of the keys to his composer’s thought. Coming from the piano class of the Prague Conservatoire (1986-1992), he stems from the Czech piano school tradition and continues to play solo or shares the stage with other chamber music performers. Apart from the works of the repertoire and his own compositions, he often puts forward his passion for the work of Leoš Janáček, whose Diary of One Who Disappeared he recorded in the studio for the Czech Radio in 2015.

Kryštof Mařatka often places improvisations at the heart of his programs as pianist, trying thus to raise awareness of the beauty of musical creation through the experience of the birth of a work witnessed by the audience in real time.

In an effort to expand the sound spectre of the instrument, Kryštof Mařatka explores different piano playing techniques, most notably using his hands directly on the piano strings, in improvised works or in improvised accompaniments to readings of texts and other opportunities. On the same theme, the composer-pianist has already led several educational workshops entitled “Journey inside the piano” intended for pianists and musicians curious to discover other techniques of piano playing than those produced on the keyboard.

Recordings:

CSARDAS N ° 7 for viola/clarinet and piano (Kryštof Mařatka / Milena Dolinová)

3. ACTOR

As an occasional actor, Kryštof Mařatka performs in his own melodramas, conceived for an actor (and a) pianist. If these works can be played by two performers, the fact that the composer or another artist goes on stage alone and embodies the two roles simultaneously - that of the actor and the pianist - adds to the work an unexpected dimension, close to a "performance" rooted in musical theatre. Kryštof Mařatka performs his melodramas in French, Czech, English and German.

Recordings:

KOKUZNETSOV, melodrama for one actor (and one) pianist based on a text by Daniil Kharms (2005)

LE MYSTÈMR RYBKA’S MYSTERY melodrama for one comedian (and one) pianist based on a short story by Karel Čapek (2015)