Music for Eternal Hope Endowment Fund, Organizer of the Eternal Hope International Music Festival
ANNOUNCES the 4th Composition Competition Theme of the Competition – Eternal Hope
Conditions of the Competition:
The expert jury for the 4th edition of the competition consists of Miroslav Lopuchovský (CZ), Chairman of the Czech Flute Association, Martina Jankovská (CZ), Board Member of the Music for Eternal Hope Endowment Fund, Kristina Vocetková (CZ), Dramaturge of the Eternal Hope Festival, Yuval Shaked (IL), Composer and Musicologist, and Flutists Sylvie Neumann Schelingerová and Jan Ostrý (CZ).
The announcement of the competition results will take place as part of a concert at the 10th edition of the Eternal Hope Music Festival in 2027 in Prague. The flute part of the winning composition will be performed by Jan Ostrý during its premiere performance.
Prizes for the Winner:
Please submit the sheet music together with an audio recording (MP3/WAV), including your name and contact details (email and mobile phone number), in electronic format by January 31, 2027, at 23:59 to the email address irma.mrazkova@vecnanadeje.org.
To ensure an objective evaluation, please do not sign or put your name on the sheet music. It will be assigned a numerical code corresponding to the date of submission.
Hope is a remarkably fascinating substance: immeasurable and elusive, yet immensely necessary—especially in moments when we are in danger of losing it. Much like love, we can give hope to others even when we lack it ourselves, and vice versa: we can hold onto it even when, realistically, it practically no longer exists.
It is no coincidence that Dante Alighieri placed the inscription "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" above the entrance to Hell in his Divine Comedy. The realization that all fears, torments, and pain are forever, with no hope for change or salvation, is worse than death itself.
Even in another hell—here on Earth—the substance of hope was exploited: above the entrance to the Auschwitz concentration camp, the Nazis had the phrase "Arbeit macht frei" ("Work sets you free") forged in iron. Rudolf Vrba, one of the few who managed to escape Auschwitz and convey news of the atrocities committed there, recalled in his later memoir how beneficially those three words affected him at first. They want work, they shall have it; perhaps it won't be so bad, he thought. After an exhausting journey into the unknown, he felt a surge of energy—because he had been given h o p e. False hope, of course, but he and thousands of others after him who passed through that gate clung to it, because human beings simply need hope.
And so, it is wonderful and fitting that the endowment fund and festival founded by Mr. Jiří Polák bear the name Eternal Hope. They primarily commemorate the so-called Terezín composers and other musicians whose works were created during times of oppression and hardship. The festival offers them hope that they will not be forgotten, and that perhaps we can learn from their suffering. Hopefully, we can: it truly seems that, thanks in part to Eternal Hope, the names of composers who were meant to be silenced—such as Pavel Haas, Gideon Klein, Hans Krása, Viktor Ullmann, and others—are being remembered and revived, with more and more opportunities to hear their music beyond festival stages. That is good and hopeful news.
Alongside the customary wish of good health, we should wish each other hope—and more of it—more often, because in any times when darkness settles in the soul for whatever reason, hope is as vital as salt.
See you at one of the concerts of the festival that never forgets: the Eternal Hope Festival.
Eva Hazdrová Kopecká, Musicologist
Miroslav Lopuchovský is a flutist, educator, and Chairman of the Czech Flute Association. After studying at the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, he served as a flutist in the Czechoslovak Radio Symphony Orchestra—first as second flutist with piccolo duties, and from 1984 as principal flutist. He later taught at the Prague Conservatory, focusing on orchestral studies, piccolo performance, methodology, and the history and literature of the transverse flute. He also studied composition at the conservatory under Jindřich Feld and Ilja Hurník. For many years, he has been actively involved in teaching, flute methodology, and organizing professional events and masterclasses.
Martina Jankovská has been leading the Eternal Hope Festival since 2020, taking over after its founder, Jiří Polák († 2021). She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Music for Eternal Hope Endowment Fund. An attorney by profession, she has run her own law firm under the Exiure brand since 2014, having previously worked for international law firms in Brno and Prague. For her, art—whether musical, visual, or dramatic—is an integral part of creating and perceiving beauty in life, serving to elevate the human spirit.
Kristina Vocetková is a Czech cellist and a member of Trio Bohémo. In 2019, together with violinist Matouš Pěruška and pianist Jan Vojtek, she co-founded the piano trio, which has won numerous international awards, including at the Joseph Haydn International Chamber Music Competition in Vienna, the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition in Australia, the Parkhouse Award in London, and the Joseph Joachim Chamber Music Competition in Germany. In 2023, the ensemble received the Czech Chamber Music Society Award. The trio has performed at prestigious venues such as Wigmore Hall in London, Musikverein in Vienna, and Stoller Hall in Manchester, as well as at festivals including the Prague Spring, Gent Festival van Vlaanderen, and Schwarzwald Musikfest.
Yuval Shaked is an Israeli composer and musicologist. He studied at the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University and, from 1981 to 1984, under Mauricio Kagel at the Musikhochschule Köln. He lectured at Kibbutzim College in Tel Aviv from 1985 to 2005 and at the University of Haifa from 2000 to 2023, where he served as Head of the Department of Music (2011–2015) and Head of the School of the Arts (2016–2020). From 1990 to 1996, he was editor of publications at the Israel Music Institute, and from 2000 to 2008, he directed the Feher Jewish Music Center at the Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv. He was also a lecturer at the Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music. Shaked has produced numerous concerts and recordings, published academic texts, and had his compositions performed at major international festivals.
Sylvie Neumann Schelingerová is a Czech flutist and graduate of the Prague Conservatory and the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ostrava. She also pursued studies in Vienna and Würzburg. A laureate of several international competitions, she won 1st Prize at the Friedrich Kuhlau Competition and received the award for the best performance of Bohuslav Martinů's Sonata at the 2019 Prague Spring Competition. From 2016 to 2018, she was a member of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestral Academy. She currently serves as principal flutist of the North Czech Philharmonic Teplice and is also active as a teacher.
Jan Ostrý is a flutist and educator. He began playing the flute under Prof. V. Žilka and continued his studies at the Prague Conservatory under Prof. František Malotín. Beginning in 1992, he studied at the CNR de Versailles and later, as a French government scholarship recipient, at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon in the class of Philippe Bernold, graduating with the conservatory's 1st Prize. During his studies, he received awards at performance competitions and attended masterclasses with leading flutists. He served as solo flutist of the Orchestre National de Lyon and Den Norske Operaen in Oslo. He has performed in numerous European countries and at major international festivals. He has participated in many recordings, including the complete Bach sonatas for two flutes and continuo and chamber music by Bach's sons. He currently teaches at the Prague Conservatory and the University of Ostrava, where he serves as the guarantor for the Flute specialization. He also regularly leads masterclasses at the European Flute Academy and other international courses.
