Jan Dobiáš
Jan Dobiáš (1982, Prague) graduated from the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno, (where he studied under František Emmert), spent an inspiring study-stay in Vilnius with Rytis Mažulis, then went on to finish his PhD with Luboš Mrkvička at the Music and Dance Faculty of The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU); his piano education comes from Martin Ballý at Prague Music School. His compositions have been performed and praised in the Czech Republic and internationally, as well as recorded for Czech Radio. He is an active lecturer (Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory, HAMU) and accompanist, also collaborating with Doodles choir. Lately, his compositions have primarily been connected by their structural symbolism: the idea behind the composition is not limited to personal experience, but enmeshed into the very structure of the piece. Basing compositions on this idea, as opposed to working in a particular style, makes for formally varied results: quasi-renaissance (Thunder – The Perfect Mind), neo-romantisicms (Two Songs about the End of the World), focus on timbre, randomness (The Hem of Karmapa’s Robe), polytempi (Staying Still), spectralism (Variations on the Rhythm of Czech History), conceptually approached merging of styles (At a Funeral or, For Eternity), monistic deterministic structure (Concerto in the Style of a Choral Prelude). For the last-mentioned piece, Dobiáš also appeared as solo pianist with PKF – Prague Philharmonia.
