Baborák Ensemble

Baborák Ensemble

BABORAK ENSEMBLE (BE) has been on the music scene since 2001. They perform at concerts and festivals in Europe and Japan, recording for Exton and Supraphon publishing. The members are successful soloists, laureates of international competitions and chamber players of the younger generation - violinists Dalibor Karvai, Martina Bačová, Roman Patočka, Vladimír Klánský, Aida Shabuová, violists Jiří Zigmund, Vladimír Kroupa, Karel Untermiller, cellist Hana Baboráková), and they are leading players of Czech orchestras (Czech Philharmonic, SOCR, PHF, FOK) and chamber ensembles (Wihan´s Quartet, Harold´s Quartet, Epogue Quartet, Afflatus Quintet, Czech Nonet). A lot of concert masters and first players of Munich and Berlin Philharmonic (Lorenz Nasturica, Wilfried Strehle, Wenzel Fuchs) perform with BE as guests. The BE repertoire includes works of the baroque, classical, romantic, and 20th century works, and a number of songs adapted and dedicated directly to BE.
The BE debut is associated with a CD recording of the songs of classical and 20 th century composers (Mozart, Beethoven, Kroll, Turner) for Exton publishing. Successful cooperation continued with another CD Le Quatro Stagioni - the best of Italian music of four centuries (Vivaldi, Corelli, Donizetti, Cherubini, Sinigalia, Rota), which received a prize of Japanese critics. The third project is a CD with compositions by Viennese classics (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Rejcha). To mark the anniversary of Bohuslav Martinů,  BE has recorded “Serenade “ with chamber compositions (Quartet and Serenade), in combination with the works of composers Carl Nielsen and Charles Koechlin.
Since its foundation, Baborak Ensemble has performed at many concerts in the Czech Republic, Germany and Japan, and at prestigious festivals (Prague Spring, Mitte Europa, Concentus Moraviae, Gruenwald Musik Tage, Lípa Musica). In 2010-2011, BE was the residence ensemble of CNSO in its chamber concerts in the St.Agnes monastery in Prague.
The BE repertoire follows the tradition, which originated in the 18th century. French horn at the time was used more as a signaling tool in hunting, organized by nobles. Maybe that's why the instrument started to be very popular and found its way into the concert halls. It also became an indispensable part of symphonic and chamber music. Pieces by Vivaldi, Corelli, Mouret, Haendl, Telemann form an integral part of BE programme.
Composers of Mannheim School and the Viennese classics composed a wide range of virtuoso pieces for French horn and strings. They were inspired by the art of Czech horn players of that time. On behalf of many, let us mention J.V. Stich-Punto, to whom L. v. Beethoven dedicated his Sonata in F major, Op. 17, and W.A. Mozart horn part in Symphony Concertante. The pieces of classicism constitute the most important part of the BE repertoire  (J. Haydn, W.A. Mozart, L. v. Beethoven, A. Rejcha, L. Boccerinni, V. Stamic, J.B. Vaňhal etc.). In the early 19 th century, there is a revolutionary improvement of a horn instrument by adding valves that allow playing the chromatic range of tones. And in the twentieth century, a series of chamber works for horn in conjunction not only with string instruments but brass and percussion as well are composed (Janáček, Martinů, Koechlin, Nielsen).
A separate chapter is represented by new works written or adapted for BE specially. BE features unexpected and often astounding sound combinations and do not prevent playing other genres, such as jazz, swing, dance, film, ethnic and oriental music. The composers as M. Bok, F. Šterbák, T. IIIe compose and adapt music for BE.