2nd year of the composition competition

Competition Rules:

1. Composition for wind quintet that has never been performed in public.
2. Each contestant may submit one original composition only; it cannot infringe on copyright or the rights of third parties.
3. The composition must be performed by a wind quintet only, without any additional instruments, electronic tapes or tools.
4. Composition length: 8 to 11 minutes.
5. The score and individual parts must be submitted in standard Western notation (any form of graphic notation is prohibited).
6. The composition must be submitted as PDF and electronic recording in MP3/WAV.
7. There are no age or geographic restrictions.

Jury Members:

Composer and guitarist Lukáš Sommer(CZ), composer and clarinettist Aleš Pavlorek (CZ), board member of the Music for Everlasting Hope Foundation Martina Jankovská (CZ), artistic director of the festival Kristina Vocetková (CZ), composer Yuval Shaked (IL), and members of the Belfiato Quintet (CZ).

Competition Results:

The official announcement of the results will be held in Prague at one of the concerts of the 8^th season of the IMF Everlasting Hope in 2025. Belfiato Quintet will perform this concert, including the final composition.

Prizes for the Winner:

• Announcement and performance of the winning composition (Belfiato Quintet) during the 8^thseason of the IMF Everlasting Hope (Spring 2025, Prague).
• Monetary award of CZK 10,000.
• Presentation of the composition/composer during the IMF Everlasting Hope and the PR campaign of the 8^thseason of the festival.
• Invitation to the composition premiere at the IMF Everlasting Hope (travel and accommodation expenses covered).

Submission Requirements:

Please send the score along with the electronic recording (MP3/WAV) and your name and contact information (email and mobile phone) in electronic form by November 30, 2024, 23:59 to the email address irma.mrazkova@vecnanadeje.org.

To allow objective evaluation, please do not sign the sheet music. It will be marked with a numerical code related to the submission date.

About the competition theme, Everlasting Hope:

Hope is an extraordinarily interesting substance: immeasurable and elusive, yet immensely needed, especially when its bare existence is threatened. Like love, hope can be given to others even by those who lack it, and we can have it even though it does not exist anymore.

It is no coincidence that in Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, the ominous inscription “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” was engraved above the Gate of Hell. It symbolizes the knowledge that all fears, torments, and pains are forever and the absence of hope for change or rescue is worse than the death itself. Similarly, in another hell on Earth, the Nazis marked the gate of the Auschwitz concentration camp with the inscription "Arbeit macht frei" ("Work will set you free"). Rudolf Vrba, one of the few who managed to escape Auschwitz and report the atrocities committed there, later recalled in his book how he benefited from those three words: “they want me to work, I will work, and maybe it won't be so bad”— or so he thought. After an exhausting journey to the unknown, he reportedly received a surge of energy because he was given h o p e. Even though the hope was false, he and thousands of others who passed through that gate clung to it because, simply, people need hope.

It is thus amazing and fitting that the foundation and festival founded by Mr. Jiří Polák are named Everlasting Hope. They primarily remind us of the so-called Terezín authors and other composers and their works created in times of oppression and evil. The festival gives them hope that they will not be forgotten and that we can learn from their suffering. Hopefully, we will: it seems that the names of authors who were to be silenced are being remembered and revived. There are increasingly more opportunities to hear the music of Pavel Haas, Gideon Klein, Hans Krása, Viktor Ullmann… and not only on festival stages. It fills me with hope. So, in addition to health, let’s wish for more hope as hope is what helps us navigate through difficult times. I am looking forward to seeing you at the festival that does not forget, the festival Everlasting Hope.

Eva Hazdrová Kopecká, musicologist

The ensemble Belfiato Quintet was formed in 2005. The quintet members - Oto Reiprich – flute, Jan Souček – oboe, Jiří Javůrek – clarinet, Jan Hudeček – bassoon, Kateřina Javůrková - French horn, are players from leading Czech orchestras (Czech Philharmonic, National Theatre Orchestra, PKF – Prague Philharmonia). They have also received awards at international music competitions, such as the ARD competition in Munich, Prague Spring, and Concertino Praga. Belfiato Quintet was awarded 1st prize from the Antonín Rejcha competition at the ISA Festival in Semmering, Austria. In 2011, the group won the 3rd prize at the Henri Tomasi International Wind Quintet Competition in Marseille (France) and the award for the best performance of a Tomasi composition. The ensemble performs regularly in the Czech Republic and abroad, appearing in concert seasons of the Czech Philharmonic, Czech Chamber Music Society, and chamber cycles of the Symphony Orchestra of the Capital City of Prague FOK and PKF – Prague Philharmonia, collaborating with Czech Television and Czech Radio. The group has been featured in the documentary "Czech Chamber Gold" by Theodora Remundová.

Aleš Pavlorek is a composer, clarinettist, and educator in Zlín. He was the 1st clarinettist of the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic and an active player in various chamber music ensembles (Wind Quintet FBM, Stadler Clarinet Quartet, and others). He has been engaged in compositional and arranging activities for thirty years. He mainly composes instrumental chamber music, but recently, he has also written pieces for wind and symphonic orchestras. His music is based on a tonal-modal principle. Although his work includes modern compositional techniques, the author always uses them only within a broader harmonic context.

Martina Jankovská has been leading the Everlasting Hope Festival since 2020, taking over after its late founder Jiří Polák (†2021). She is a board member of the Music for Everlasting Hope Foundation. Professionally a lawyer since 2014, she has operated her own office under the ExIure brand, previously working in international law firms in Brno and Prague. Art, whether musical, visual, or dramatic, is an integral part of her life and perception of beauty, uplifting the human spirit.

Kristina Vocetková is one of the most promising Czech cellists of her generation. In 2019, she founded the piano trio Trio Bohémo with violinist Matouš Pěruška and pianist Jan Vojtek. In a short time, they won several international prizes from competitions such as 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 trio was awarded the Czech Chamber Music Society Prize and were guests on the In Tune program on BBC Radio 3. They have debuted at venues like London's Wigmore Hall, Musikverein in Vienna, and Stoller Hall in Manchester. They have appeared at festivals such as Prague Spring, Gent Festival van Vlaanderen in Belgium, and Schwarzwald Musikfest in Germany. The upcoming season includes several tours in the USA and Australia.

Yuval Shaked is an Israeli composer and musicologist. He studied at the Rubin Music Academy at Tel Aviv University and from 1981 to 1984 with Mauricio Kagel at the Musikhochschule Köln. From 1985 to 2005, he lectured at Kibbutzim College in Tel Aviv and from 2000 to 2023 at the University of Haifa (2011-15 head of the music department; 2016-2020 head of the art school). From 1990 to 1996, he served as editor of publications at the Israel Music Institute, and from 2000 to 2008, he led the Feher Jewish Music Center at the Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv. In 2010, 2012, and 2014, he was a lecturer at the International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt. He has produced numerous concerts and recordings. His articles have been published in several magazines, books, and encyclopedias. His compositions have been widely performed at renowned festivals.

Lukáš Sommer is one of the leading figures of the current generation of young composers. From 1998, he studied at the Conservatory in České Budějovice, guitar with Prof. Vilma Manová and composition with Prof. Jiří Churáček. In 2003, he studied for one year at the Prague Conservatory with Professor Věroslav Neumann. In 2009, he graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts and studied composition with Professor Ivan Kurz. He is the author of more than fifty opuses of various genres. Besides orchestral music (e.g., Cantata Thorns in the Veil, Concerto for Harp and Orchestra, Monolith for Wind Orchestra and Percussion Instruments, Concerto for Orchestra, and others), Sommer focuses on chamber music (e.g., Two String Quartets, Piano Trio "Xcape," Labyrinth - Sonata for Harpsichord, Gypsy and Odyssey). Another line of Sommer's work is vocal music - often using texts of contemporary poets (e.g., song cycle Headland, Floating Island, melodrama No One Has Caressed Me for a Long Time, Song of the Gallows, ABC). A special place among his works is occupied by the opera Ela, Hela, and Stop, a libretto by Václav Havel. He also composes works for children, specifically the children's opera Hercules and the musical Sindibad. His music has been performed by Sir Nicolas Daniel, Carlo Jans, Jana Boušková, Vilém Veverka, Pavel Šporcl, Jan Mikušek, Sebastien Bagnout, Jan Kučera, Sednunum Orchestra, Bremerhaven Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Czech Radio, Prague Philharmonic Choir, and others. Besides regular performances on the domestic scene, he has presented his music in more than 15 countries.