Václav Luks (born 14 November 1970) is a Czech

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

ist,

horn player This list of horn players and pedagogues includes notable players of French horn, German horn, natural horn, Vienna horn, tenor (alto) horn, and alphorn. B * Radek Baborák, born 1976, former Principal horn Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Mu ...

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

and

pedagogue Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

, founder and artistic director of the Prague baroque orchestra Collegium 1704 and of the vocal ensemble Collegium Vocale 1704. He specialises in

Baroque music Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Classical music, Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance music, Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Class ...

, especially in the works of

Jan Dismas Zelenka Jan Dismas Zelenka (16 October 1679 – 23 December 1745), baptised Jan Lukáš Zelenka was a Bohemian composer and musician of the Baroque period. His music is admired for its harmonic inventiveness and mastery of counterpoint. Zelenka was ...

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...

, and others. His activities have played an important role in reviving interest in the works of Czech composers including Zelenka and

Josef Mysliveček Josef Mysliveček (9 March 1737 – 4 February 1781) was a Czech composer who contributed to the formation of late eighteenth-century classicism in music. Mysliveček provided his younger friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with significant com ...

. In 2022, Luks was awarded the title of Knight of the French Ministry of Culture, Arts and Letters.

Education

Luks studied at the Conservatory of Plzeň in classes of

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

and

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 ...

and at the

Academy of Performing Arts in Prague The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (, AMU) is a university in the centre of Prague, Czech Republic, specialising in the study of music, dance, drama, film, television and multi-media. It is the largest art school in the Czech Republic, wit ...

; in 1992, he resumed his studies at the

Schola Cantorum Basiliensis The Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (SCB) is a music academy and research institution located in Basel, Switzerland, that focuses on early music and historically informed performance. Faculty at the school have organized performing ensembles that hav ...

in the studios of Jörg-Andreas Bötticher and Jesper Christensen (in the fields of historical keyboard instruments and historical performance practice), graduating as a soloist in 1997. During his studies in Basel and in the years that followed, he gave concerts in Europe and overseas as the principal horn player of the Akademie für Alte Musik in Berlin.

Collegium 1704 and Collegium Vocale 1704

Upon his return from abroad, Luks transformed a chamber ensemble that he founded during his studies into the Prague baroque orchestra Collegium 1704 and the affiliated vocal ensemble Collegium Vocale 1704: the most immediate impulse was the project Bach — Prague — 2005, initiated by Luks himself. Since 2007, the ensemble has been making regular guest appearances at festivals and concert halls all over Europe: the

Salzburger Festspiele The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...

(2015, 2016, 2018), the

Berliner Philharmonie The () is a concert hall in Berlin, Germany, and home to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The Philharmonie lies on the south edge of the city's Tiergarten and just west of the former Berlin Wall. The Philharmonie is on Herbert-von-Karajan- ...

, London’s

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

, Vienna’s

Theater an der Wien The is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, it has served prim ...

and Konzerthaus, the

Lucerne Festival Lucerne Festival is one of the leading international festivals in the world of classical music and presents a series of classical music festivals based in Lucerne, Switzerland. Founded in 1938 by Ernest Ansermet and Walter Schulthess, it curr ...

, BOZAR (Palais des Beaux-Arts) in Brussels, the Chopin Festival in Warsaw, Wratislavia Cantans, and the

Elbphilharmonie The Elbphilharmonie (; "Elbe Philharmonic Hall"), popularly nicknamed Elphi, is a concert hall in the HafenCity quarter of Hamburg, Germany, on the Grasbrook peninsula of the Elbe River. The new construction resembles a hoisted sail, water wave ...

, and it is an ensemble-in-residence at the festival Oude Muziek in Utrecht and at the Leipzig Bachfest. In 2008, Music Bridge

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

—

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

began, bringing together the two cities’ wealth of cultural traditions. In 2012 Collegium 1704 started a concert series at the

Rudolfinum The Rudolfinum is a building in Prague, Czech Republic. It is designed in the neo-Renaissance style and is situated on Jan Palach Square on the bank of the river Vltava. Since its opening in 1885, it has been associated with music and art. C ...

in Prague. Since autumn 2015, the two cycles have been merged into a single concert season that continues to take place in parallel in Prague and Dresden. In 2019 Collegium Vocale 1704 launched a series of chamber choir concerts in Prague. The ensemble cooperates with prominent soloists, both Czech and international, including Magdalena Kožená,

Bejun Mehta Bejun Mehta (born 29 June 1968) is an American countertenor and voice teacher. He has been awarded the Echo Klassik, the Gramophone Award,

Simona Houda-Šaturová Simona Houda-Šaturová is a Slovak classical soprano who has had an active international career performing in operas, concerts, and recitals since the early 1990s. In 2001, she was honored with a Thalia Award and in 2007 she won the Charlotte a ...

Martina Janková Martina Janková (born 1972, Orlová) is a Czech operatic soprano. She has been successful in a number of opera contests, including winning first prize at the competition Neue Stimmen in Gütersloh. She has been a member of the Zürich Opera since ...

Hana Blažíková Hana Blažíková (born 2 December 1980) is a Czech soprano and harpist. She is focused on Medieval music, Medieval, Renaissance music, Renaissance and Baroque music, appearing internationally. She has recorded as a member of the Bach Collegium J ...

, Karina Gauvin,

Lisandro Abadie Lisandro Abadie (born 28 July 1974) is an Argentine bass-baritone. He studied in Switzerland, initially in Basel at the Schola Cantorum (music diploma in 2001) and subsequently at the Music School of Lucerne University, graduating with a solo-sin ...

, and others.

Work with other ensembles

In addition to his work with Collegium 1704, Václav Luks also collaborates with international ensembles including

Camerata Salzburg The Camerata Salzburg is an Austrian chamber orchestra based in Salzburg, Austria. The Camerata's principal concert venue is the Mozarteum University. History Bernhard Paumgartner founded the ensemble in 1952 as the ''Camerata Academica des Moz ...

, the Akademie für Alte Musik in Berlin, La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, and the Dresdner Kammerchor. Amongst his recent projects have been performances of Purcell’s opera ''

Dido and Aeneas ''Dido and Aeneas'' (Z. 626) is an opera in a prologue and three acts, written by the English Baroque music, Baroque composer Henry Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate. The dates of the composition and first performance of the opera are uncer ...

'' with Ensemble Pygmalion at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and a programme with works by Polish composers with the ensemble Orkiestra Historyczna. At a benefit concert for the restoration of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, Václav Luks conducted the Orchestre national de France.

Teaching

Between 1996 and 1999, Luks taught

basso continuo Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing th ...

at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, and in 2001–2003 he lectured at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater “Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy” in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

. He has also worked with the Janáček Academy of Music in Brno and he is regularly invited to sit on juries of international competitions (Schmelzer-Wettbewerb Melk, Prague Spring 2012).

Opera and theatre

In 2009/2010, Collegium 1704 under Luks's baton performed Handel's ''Rinaldo'' at the National Theatre in Prague at Théâtre de Caen, Opéra de Rennes, and Grand Théâtre du Luxembourg. In 2013, they performed Josef Mysliveček’s opera '' L’olimpiade'' and the production was nominated for the 2014 International Opera Awards. In 2017, they followed with

Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist, impresario of Baroque music and Roman Catholic priest. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lif ...

’s '' Arsilda, regina di Ponto'' in its modern-era world premiere, directed by

David Radok David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damas ...

- the premiere took place at the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava and the production toured several European citites, including Opéra de Lille, Théâtre de la ville de Luxembourg, Théâtre de Caen, and Opéra Royale de Versailles. In 2022, Collegium 1704 under his direction staged G. F. Handel's ''

Alcina ''Alcina'' (Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis, HWV 34) is a 1735 opera by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of ''L'isola di Alcina'', a work set to music in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he had acquired a year later during his t ...

'' at the National Theatre Brno, in co-production with Théâtre de Caen and Opéra Royale de Versailles, and the production was renewed in 2023.

Film projects

In 2014 Collegium 1704 led by Luks collaborated with

Bejun Mehta Bejun Mehta (born 29 June 1968) is an American countertenor and voice teacher. He has been awarded the Echo Klassik, the Gramophone Award,

on a DVD of

Gluck Christoph Willibald ( Ritter von) Gluck (; ; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire at ...

’s opera ''

Orfeo ed Euridice (; French: '; English: ''Orpheus and Eurydice'') is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck, based on the myth of Orpheus and set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the '' azione teatrale'', meaning an ...

'' with the stage director

Ondřej Havelka Ondřej Havelka (born October 10, 1954) is a Czech jazz and Swing music, swing singer, actor, and director. Career Havelka has been the lead vocalist for the Original Prague Syncopated Orchestra (1976-1995) and for Ondřej Havelka and his Melod ...

, and with

Rolando Villazón Rolando Villazón Mauleón (born 22 February 1972) is a Mexican operatic tenor, stage director, author, radio and television personality, and artistic director. He resides in France and received his citizenship in 2007. Villazón has published ...

on the making of the BBC 2 documentary ''Mozart in Prague''. The ensemble took part in making the director Petr Václav’s epic historical film '' Il Boemo'' (2022) about the life of

, and previously in the director's documentary about Mysliveček, ''Confessions of the Vanished'' (2015).

Cooperation with radio stations

Václav Luks works in cooperation with a number of broadcasting networks such as Deutschlandradio Berlin, Schweizer Radio DRS, the Austrian Broadcasting Company (ÖRF), and Radio France and with music publishers including Supraphon, Pan Classics, Zig-Zag Territoires, Arta, and Accent.

Discography

Bedřich Smetana Bedřich Smetana ( ; ; 2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style that became closely identified with his people's aspirations to a cultural and political "revival". He has been regarded ...

: ''My Country'' (Accent, 2022) *

Luigi Cherubini Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Salvatore Cherubini ( ; ; 8 or 14 SeptemberWillis, in Sadie (Ed.), p. 833 1760 – 15 March 1842) was an Italian Classical and Romantic composer. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. Beethov ...

: ''Requiem C Minor'' /

Karol Kurpiński Karol Kazimierz Kurpiński (March 6, 1785September 18, 1857) was a Polish composer, conductor and pedagogue. He was a representative of late classicism and a member of the Warsaw Society of Friends of Learning ( Polish: ''Towarzystwo Warszawsk ...

: ''Te Deum'', sol. Simona Šaturová (Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina, 2021) *

Jean-Philippe Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; ; – ) was a French composer and music theory, music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of ...

: '' Les Boréades'' (Chateau de Versailles Spectacles 2020) *

: ''Missa 1724'' (Accent, 2020) * Magdalena Kožená: ''Il giardino dei sospiri'' , Marcello, Vinci, Leo, Gasparini, Händel (Accent, 2019) *

Georg Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, Han ...

: ''Messiah'' (Accent, 2019) *

: ''Oboe concertos et cantatas'' (Accent, 2018) *

: ''Violin Concertos'' (Accent, 2018) *

: ''Sonatas'' ZWV 181 , a 2 oboi (violino) e 2 bassi obligati /2CD/ (Accent, 2017) * Jan Dismas Zelenka: ''Missa Divi Xaverii'' ZWV 12 (Accent, 2015) * Johann Sebastian Bach: ''Mše h moll'' BWV 232 (Accent, 2013) * Jan Dismas Zelenka: ''Officium defunctorum'' ZWV 47 / Requiem ZWV 46 (Accent, 2011) * Antonín Reichenauer: ''Concertos , Koncerty'' (Supraphon, 2010) * Jan Dismas Zelenka: ''I Penitenti al Sepolcro del Redentore'' (Zig-Zag Territoires, 2009) * Jan Dismas Zelenka: ''Missa votiva'' (Zig-Zag Territoires, 2008) * Jan Dismas Zelenka: ''Composizioni per Orchestra'' , Orchestrální skladby (Supraphon, 2005) * Jiří Antonín Benda: ''Harpsichord Concertos'' , Koncerty pro cembalo (ARTA Records, 2005) * Henrico Albicastro: ''Concerti a quattro'', op. 4 (PAN Classics, 2001)

References

External links

Václav Luks
on the Collegium 1704 official website
Václav Luks
on

France Musique France Musique () is a French national public radio channel owned and operated by Radio France. It is devoted to the broadcasting of music, both live and recorded, with particular emphasis on classical music and jazz. History The channel was lau ...

Václav Luks
on the BBC
Bach & Zelenka: Jan Dismas Zelenka: "Te Deum" [ZWV 146
- Collegium 1704/ Luks (20.08.11) (1of2) (YouTube) {{DEFAULTSORT:Luks, Vaclav 1970 births">WV 146">Bach & Zelenka: Jan Dismas Zelenka: "Te Deum" [ZWV 146
- Collegium 1704/ Luks (20.08.11) (1of2) (YouTube) {{DEFAULTSORT:Luks, Vaclav 1970 births Living people People from Rakovník Czech male conductors (music) Czech musicologists Czech harpsichordists Czech music educators 20th-century Czech conductors (music) 21st-century Czech conductors (music) 20th-century Czech male musicians 21st-century Czech male musicians Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Academy of Performing Arts in Prague alumni