MAREK VALÁŠEK
Marek Valášek graduated from the Music Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in conducting. At the Faculty of Education of Charles University in Prague he specialized in music education and choral conducting. At the Týn School in Prague he studied church choir direction. During his studies he started conducting in the Municipal Theatre in Ústí nad Labem and between 2002 and 2006 he also worked as a choirmaster at the Prague State Opera where, in addition to his regular choirmaster job, he conducted Leoncavallo’s opera La Bohéme. Since autumn 2015, he returned to the choirmaster’s position at the State Opera again.
At the Young Stage Festival 2002, he was awarded the 1st prize in the conductors’ competition for the concert with the Prague Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra. Within the frame of the Prague Spring music festival 2005, he carried out the Czech premiere of the full-length oratorio Ecce Homo by Jan Hanuš; in November 2005 he recorded Hanuš’s 1st symphony with the Czech Radio Symphonic Orchestra. In 2006, he was a guest conductor in Vilnius, Lithuania, and in Kyoto, Japan. He regularly works with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Hradec Králové and is often invited to lead choirmastering courses and to chair choral competition juries. In 2013, he was awarded the prestigious Ferdinand Vach professional prize by the Czech Music Foundation and the Association of Choral Conductors of the Music Scholars and Performers Association.
Marek Valášek is the principal organist of the Capuchin order in Hradčany, Prague; he teaches at the Prague Conservatory (department of music theory) and also conducts all the conservatory choirs. Since 2002, he has been teaching at the Department of Music Education of the Charles University in Prague and he has worked as the head of the Choral conducting Department since 2011.
LUBOŠ HÁNA
Luboš Hána is a professor at the University of J. E. Purkyně in Ústí nad Labem. During his university studies, he specialized in choir directing, music theory and pedagogy.
Besides teaching, he has also served as the director of NONA Chamber Choir since 2002, a group of choristers chosen from the students of the University of J. E. Purkyně. Outside of the school grounds, he directs a mixed adult choir, Ventilky Jirkov. Both of the abovementioned choirs have won numerous prizes at international festivals (Malta International Choir Competition, Festival of Songs Olomouc, IFAS Pardubice, Internationaler Chorwettbewerb Austria etc.).
Luboš Hána is often invited to lecture at workshops and courses (Bohemia Cantat, Franco-German Forum for Young Artists in Bayreuth) and is a member of many choir festival juries.
In 2007 Luboš Hána founded Jirkovský Písňovar, an international choir competition focused on popular and jazz choir music.
Alena Tichá
She studied Czech language and Music at the Faculty of Education and solo singing at HAMU. Between 1974 and 2019, she held a position as an assistant professor at the Department of Music Education within the Pedagogical Faculty of Charles University in Prague. Simultaneously, starting from 1993, she dedicated 18 years to teaching music education at a primary school with an enriched music program, which she established in Brandýs nad Labem. Additionally, she took charge of a children’s choir there. Concurrently, she also imparted lessons in solo singing at the primary school.
She is professionally engaged in the topic of teaching and methodology of voice education. She has developed a specific methodology for children who are lagging behind musically and vocally, which can also be used when working with adults who do not sing. Since 1993, she has been conducting courses for teachers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and lectures on modern methods in Teaching Singing at conservatories. She is repeatedly approached with requests for workshops and lectures at pedagogical faculties in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and at music universities in Poland.
Alena Tichá is a sought-after voice consultant for choirs of all ages throughout the Czech Republic. As an experienced adjudicator she participates in singing and choral competitions. She publishes articles and books on voice education, especially for children.