Krystof Maratka

Krystof Maratka’s music ranges from chamber music to full- scale symphonic works with choir and they have been performed all over the globe and received numerous prizes. His most outstanding works invite us on journeys in time and in space: Anthology of dreams – piano trio, Hypnozy - a woodwind quintet, The four legged crow- a melodrama, Chant g’hai for traditional Chinese suona and orchestra, and even Otisk (Imprint) for large symphonic orchestra that explores an audacious hypothesis regarding the nature of Palaeolithic music fifty thousand years ago. This work was commissioned in 2004 by three American orchestras (Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Saint-Luke Orchestra and Colorado Symphony Orchestra) and played several times in Denver, New York and Toronto.
A well as composing, orchestral conducting is a major part of Maratka’s work; “It is a necessity for me, it is one thing to write music and something else to bring it to life on stage. The two go hand in hand, and as a composer, it is only during the moments of creation as a performer that I feel whole.” Maratka has performed with many renowned orchestra and groups including: the Prague Philharmonia, Philharmonic Orchestra of the Polish Radio Orchestra, Orchestra Colonne Paris, the National Theatre Orchestra in Prague, the Irkoutsk Philharmonic Orchestra, La Follia in Strasbourg, the Academy Orchestra of St. Cézaire, Jyväskyla Orchestra (Finland), Nordenwest Philharmonie Herford in Germany, Bydgoszcz Philharmonia Pomorska (Poland), Ensemble Calliopée (Paris), Talich Chamber Orchestra (Czech Republic).
Born in Prague, Maratka, studied piano and chamber music, and then style, analysis and composition at the Prague Conservatoire with Bohuslav Rehor and Petr Eben. With a grant from the French institutes in Prague he moved to Paris and continued is studies with Jean-Claude Pennetier and then computer music at the IRCAM. He has collaborated with many international orchestras and ensembles such as Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the National Orchestra of France, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France, the Camerata of Saint Petersburg, the Lodz Philharmonic, as well as with the Evian Competition, the Présences Festival at Radio France, the Contemporary Music Festival in Dresden, Korsholm Music Festival in Finland, the Rostal Competition in Berlin, the Caramoor Festival in the USA.
Two CDs of Krystof Maratka’s works have been released. In June 2001 a disc of his Chamber Music on the Lyrinx label which received a prize from the Académie Charles Cros. In 2005, the second CD was released on Arion, which includes his clarinet concerto Luminarium and his viola concerto Astrophonia.
Recent highlight have included: the premier of Zverohra a series of anthropoid songs for soprano and orchestra, commissioned by Radio France and premiered at the Prague Premiers Festival in April 2008 with Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Mélopa for harpsichord dedicated to Élisabeth Chojnacka 2009 and Praharphona a concerto for harp and orchestra, commissioned and premiered by the Kiel Symphony Orchestra (Germany) 2010.
Maratka has won numerous prizes including: 1st Prize from the Shanghai Spring Festival for his piece Chant G’hai in 2007, the Tansman Prize in 2006 and the Audience Prize for his work Luminarium, a concerto for clarinet and orchestra, at the Fourth International Musical Celebrity Competition in Lodz.
In 2007 the Académie des Beaux-Arts in France awarded Maratka the Pierre Cardin Prize in musical composition for that year. The television channel, MEZZO recently made a documentary portrait about him.
His works are published by Editions Jobert Paris.