Ondřej Adámek, composer in focus / curator of the New Music Forum 2020 festival
Ondřej Adámek was born in 1979 in Prague. He has received commissions for orchestral, choir, ensemble, and vocal works, as well as music for instruments and electronics from prestigious ensembles and festivals of contemporary music in Europe (for example, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien, Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, Diotima string quartet, Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain, Agora festival, Donaueschingen festival, Witten festival, Warsaw Automn, Les Musiques festival – Marseille…).
Adámek seeks out special playing techniques for classical instruments, creates new original instruments, with his vast knowledge of new possibilities for classical instruments, obtains a very specific sound colour that, together with a powerful rhythmic and solid formal architecture, creates very personal music with strong dramatic aspect.
Adámek graduated from the composition department of the Academy of Music in Prague in 2004 and from the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris in 2007.
His music was awarded the Synthèse Prize (Bourges 2002), Metamorphose (Brussels 2002, 2004), First Prize of Hungarian Radio, the Brandenburg Biennale prize (2006), the Prix Hervé-Dugardin – SACEM (2009), the Grand Prix Tansman (Lodz 2010), the Prix George Enesco 2011, and others. In 2014-2015 is Adamek fellow of Academie de France, Villa Medici in Rome.
Ondřej Adámek is also conductor and conducts his opera Alles Klappt in the festival Biennale Munich, also his opera Seven Stones in the opera festival in Aix-en-Provence. He conducts Ensemble Moderne, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Kammerensemble Neue Musik, Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain, Oslo Sinfonetta, Ensemble 2E2M, Ensemble Prague Modern, Vocal Ensemble Accentus – Aix 21, Chorwerk Ruhr, Ensemble Ilinx, Ensemble of Orchestre National de Lille. He creates and conducts his own vocal ensemble NESEVEN combined with percussion ensemble Eklekto (Switzerland) and prepares touring in Europe in 2019-2020.