Martin Opršál
Martin Opršál studied at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno, where he is currently the professor of melodic percussion instruments and chamber music performance. Heis also the head of the Percussion Instruments Department. He was one of the founding members of the Central European Percussion Ensemble DAMA DAMA and his musical activity revolves mainly around marimba and other melodic percussive instruments. He tirelessly presents compositions written for these instruments in Czech and world premieres. He recorded and released the CD Reverberations with solo and chamber music for marimba. Opršál also leads seminars on contemporary music for marimba and is invited to juries of performance competitions. In addition, he is a sought-after performer of chamber music. He collaborates with the Prague BERG Orchestra, the Brno Ensemble Opera Diversa and Ostrava Center for New Music and is the co-founder of OK Percussion Duo, an ensemble dedicated to the creation and interpretation of contemporary music for percussion instruments. He is involved in multi-genre projects in the ensemble Dust in the Groove. He has also appeared on two CDs by Iva Bittová and collaborated with jazz legend Joe Zawinul on the album Stories of the Danube. Opršál has performed solo or in ensembles at numerous concerts and music festivals in Central and Western Europe, Japan, Korea and the USA. As a soloist, he has appeared for example with PKF – Prague Philharmonia, as well as with philharmonic orchestras of Ostrava, Brno, Hradec Králové, Zlín, Olomouc and Karlovy Vary. Opršál is a sought-after and very successful teacherand also engages his students in many interpretatively demanding projects.
