CZECH AND

MORAVIAN

CHRISTMAS CAROLS

JAN JIRÁSEK | JITRO

 

 

OVERVIEW

Celebrate the joy and magic of Christmas with Czech composer Jan Jirásek’s debut Navona Records release CZECH AND MORAVIAN CHRISTMAS CAROLS. The composer presents a collection of original carols that highlight the spirit, peaceful contemplation, and mystery of Christmas, performed by the Czech children’s choir JITRO with accompaniments by traditional wind, percussion, and string instruments. For centuries, carols have been traditions in Czech and Moravian communities for Christmas festivities, filling the brisk evening air with melodies of peace, happiness, and good tiding. Reflecting the rich customs of the Czech and Moravian cultures, and displaying both Christian and folk influences, Jirásek offers wholesome and enduring songs that can warm our hearts and minds with the wonder and glory of the Christmas season.

 

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HIGHLIGHTS

- Jirásek was awarded the prestigious Czech Lion Award for his film music in Wild Flowers and An Ambiguous Report About the End of the World

 

- His work has been represented at numerous venues and festivals throughout the world since 1989, including Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center in New York, the Avignon Festival in France, and the Prague Spring Festival

 

- Jirásek has taught at several prestigious universities including Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna and the Hartt School of Music in Connecticut

 

- Jirásek studied composition with Professor Zdenek Zouhar at the Janáček Academy of Musical Art in the Czech Republic

 

- JITRO, the children choir from Hradec Králové, Czech Republic has more than 350 children in 6 different preparatory choirs. Over the last 40 years, JITRO have toured extensively, performing over 2,800 concerts in prestigious concert halls in Prague, Barcelona, Berlin, Strasbourg, Washington DC, New York, Boston, Chicago, Tokyo, Osala, Hong Kong, Bern, Brussels, Luxembourg, Basel, Avignon, and more

 

- JIRTO has recorded over 30 albums and have won 30 awards at international competitions, including Llangollen (1988), Nantes (1989), Neerpelt (1996), Olomouc (1988 and 2003), Pardubice (2009), and Lecco (2010), among many others.

 

- The choir took part in the Fourth World Choir Games 2006 in Xiamen, China, competing with 400 choirs from all over the world. They received three gold medals and one silver medal

 

- The children’s choir has been directed and conducted by Jiří Skopal since 1977

 

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BIOGRAPHY

Jirásek's work has been represented at a number of venues and festivals throughout the world since 1989. He has composed music for distinguished performers and stages, such as Bread and Circuses for six percussionists (Munich Biennale, 1992), recomposition of St. Luke's Passion according to J.S. Bach’s manuscript, and Carl Orff’s concept (Munich Biennale, 1996; Minneapolis, USA, 2000), Concerto for Organ and Small Orchestra To Dance with the Universe (Portland Chamber Orchestra, 2012), Missa propria (for mixed choir or boys’ choir/women’s choir or children’s choir, Prague Spring Festival, 1994 and 2014; Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, New York and Avignon Festival in France, among others), string quartet Fragile Balance/Letter to Heaven (Vega String Quartet, Atlanta, 2012), micro-opera King Lávra (Khorikos New York, 2013) and others.

 

Jirásek's compositions have been published by one of the world's leading publishing houses G. Ricordi & Co., Berlin.

 

His film music has won a number of prestigious awards: in the Czech Republic, his scores for films by the Czech director F.A. Brabec, Kytice ('The Bouquet'), and the distinguished Slovak director Juraj Jakubisko's Nejasná zpráva o konci světa ('An Ambiguous Report about the End of the World') have each been awarded the Czech Lion prize.

 

Jan Jirásek also devotes his time to teaching. He has taught composition at prestigious universities in Europe (Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Vienna; ISAM, Ochsenhausen, Germany and many others), as well as in the United States (Hartt School of Music, Connecticut; Colorado College; Florida International University; Lehigh University, Pennsylvania; University of Colorado at Boulder).

 

In the sleevenote to the album Renaissance of Humanity, which includes music by Hildegard von Bingen, Jirásek, and Arvo Pärt (BMG Classics 1995), Samuel Hendricks wrote: “Jirásek’s subtle, superb arrangements give clear expression to his musical ideas which, like those of any honest artist, are concerned not with the mask of art but the face behind it.”

 

janjirasek.com

 

jitro.cz