Vojtěch Spurný

Vojtěch Spurný studied flute and conducting at the Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague before continuing his education at the College of Music in Utrecht, The Netherlands. His training has included work in piano, harpsichord, and operatic stage directing. After graduating he served as a conductor and also as a stage director – first as an assistant to experienced masters and then independently. His work as an assistant to conductor Bohumil Gregor and especially his last-minute substitution at Prague’s National Theatre for a performance of Smetana’s The Bartered Bride aroused deserved attention in the musical community, as did his later preparation and conducting of Scarlatti’s oratorio Agar for the Old Testament Festival in Prague, Rossini’s The Journey to Reims and The Barber of Seville in Göteborg, and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas in Plzeň, which was honoured as the Production of the Year for 1998. In 2000 he rehearsed and conducted the Czech premiere of the first surviving opera, Peri’s Euridice from 1600, for the Smetana Festival in Litomyšl. At the Prague State Opera he conducts Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Zemlinsky’s Once Upon a Time, and The Soldier and the Dancer by Bohuslav Martinů. Presently he is appearing as a guest conductor with various symphony orchestras and presenting many concerts with the early-music instrumental ensemble “Musica salutaris”, of which he is artistic director. He is also a harpsichordist and pianist, with experience performing works for quarter-tone piano.