Libor Pešek (22 June 1933 – 23 October 2022) was a Czech conductor. He was among the most famous conductors of his time, working regularly across Europe as chief conductor of orchestras in Prague, but also for ten years with the

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is a music organisation based in Liverpool, England, that manages a professional symphony orchestra, a concert venue, and extensive programmes of learning through music. Its orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmo ...

. His career spanned more than 70 years during which he won awards from Great Britain and others. He conducted Czech music by composers such as Vítězslav Novák, Josef Suk and

Pavel Josef Vejvanovský Pavel Josef Vejvanovský (c. 1639 – 24 July 1693) was a Czech-Moravian composer and trumpeter of the Baroque period. Life Vejvanovský was born probably in Hlučín (possibly in Hukvaldy), probably in 1639 or 1640 (1633 is also sometimes menti ...

better known by performances and recordings.

Life and career

Pešek was born in Prague,

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, on 22 June 1933. He attended a grammar school, where he established his own jazz band. He then studied conducting,

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

and

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

at the Academy of Musical Arts, with Václav Smetáček and Karel Ančerl among his teachers. Pešek worked at the

Plzeň Plzeň (), also known in English and German as Pilsen (), is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about west of P ...

Opera and the Prague National Opera. From 1958 to 1964, he was the director of Prague Chamber Harmony, which he founded. In the seventies, he directed orchestras in

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; ; ; ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 127,073 (2023). It is the provincial capital and seat of the Provin ...

and

Enschede Enschede (; local ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the province of Overijssel and the Twente region of the eastern Netherlands. The east of the urban area reaches ...

, Netherlands. He also formed the Sebastian Orchestra. Pešek was chief conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic from 1981 to 1982, and from 1982 to 1990 was conductor-in-residence of the Czech Philharmonic. He served as the conductor at the inauguration of

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and dissident. Havel served as the last List of presidents of Czechoslovakia, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissol ...

in December 1989. In the UK, Pešek was music director of the

(RLPO) from 1987 to 1998, and held the title of conductor laureate then, which included an annual concert. His work with the RLPO included leading the premiere of Anthony Powers' Horn Concerto, with Michael Thompson as the soloist. He led the orchestra in 1993 to open the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring (; ) was a period of liberalization, political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected Secretary (title), First Secre ...

festival, the first foreign orchestra to be invited. He also took the group on its first tour of the United States. During his time with the RLPO, it was dubbed "the best Czech orchestra outside Prague". Beginning in 2007, Pešek was the chief conductor of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. He stood down from this position at the close of the 2018–2019 season. Pešek was best known for his interpretations of Czech music. He was a champion of lesser known Czech composers, particularly Josef Suk and Vítězslav Novák. His recordings included music of

. On 23 October 2022, Jan Hasenöhrl, a Czech trumpeter, announced Pesek´s death, Pesek was 89.

Awards and honours

Pešek was appointed an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 1996, on the occasion of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

's state visit to Prague. He was conferred the First Grade of the Czech Medal of Merit by

one year later. In recognition of him selling 635,000 records, Pešek was given a diamond record by

Supraphon Supraphon Music Publishing is a Czech record label, oriented mainly towards publishing classical music and popular music, with an emphasis on Czech and Slovak composers. History The Supraphon name was first registered as a trademark in 1932. Th ...

in 2013.

References

External links

IMG Artists agency page on Libor Pešek
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pesek, Libor 1933 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Czech classical musicians 20th-century Czech male musicians 21st-century classical musicians 21st-century Czech conductors (music) 21st-century Czech male musicians Conductors (music) awarded knighthoods Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Czech male conductors (music) Musicians from Prague Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) Czechoslovak conductors (music) Principal conductors of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Chief conductors of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra