Well, it's in the family, you know, my father is a trombone player, my uncle is a cellist,
my grandfather was a violinist, so I guess they just assumed that, you know, I'm just
gonna keep doing music, you know, keep in the family, you know, running it.
So that was it, and I started very young age, about five-year-old piano and other instruments,
and then went to the conservatory, switched to bassoon, and then finished that in Prague.
It's originally from Czech Republic, Prague.
And from there, I came to Lake Charles, and that's where it all started.
And originally, only for two years, the idea was to come here, get the language down, meet
the new people, the new culture, and all that stuff.
Yeah, it turned into 18, so, you know, and I've been here since.
Which I, you know, don't regret for a second, this country has been, you know, very great
to me, so all the great education I got, the best schools in the country basically, went
to Rice in Houston, went to Johns Hopkins up in Baltimore, so I was, I'm very grateful
for, you know, what this place gave me, so.
What's different about being in one of the chairs and being in front of the chairs?
I think you have more freedom as a player, meaning sitting in the chair.
You are actually making the music, because you are the one who makes the sound.
As a player, I was sitting there playing the music.
As a conductor, I have perhaps more control over how the piece is going to be, how it
overall picture, but I don't have the luxury or freedom on or whatever it is to actually
make the sounds, which is the biggest difference, of course.
You know, I do have control over what kind of tempo it's going to be, I'm trying to show
the players how to, what my vision of that particular piece is, but ultimately it's
up to them to produce the sounds.
So it's, you know, it has its perks, but I think actually making the music as a player
is much more important than just waving your arms in some sense and don't make any sounds.
So what's, what do you feel is your biggest responsibility as a conductor to the audience?
Connect, the connection between the audience and the orchestra is basically my responsibility
to make sure that they put it very, basically it's, I want the audience to enjoy the concert
and that is my responsibility to make it run smooth and create some kind of emotion in
the audience.
So they either come sad and leave happy or come happy, leave sad, depending on the music.
So there is, you know, emotional connection between the musicians and the audience.
To this symphony here in Lake Charles, how do you hope to revitalize and keep the symphony
going in a town the size of Lake Charles?
What are those challenges?
Well, exciting people is one of the challenges, trying to show them that, you know, as they
say, it's not your grandma symphony, you know, you don't have to show up in Tuxedo and
Bowtie, you know, and look kind of, you know, upscale.
You can, it's all about enjoying the music and we are trying to, we do a lot of things
outside of the concerts as well, try to promote it and get in touch with people and say, hey,
come, come this time, we'll, we'll, even for free, come this one time, we will show you
what we do and so that's the biggest challenge, to reach some of these new audiences, to make
sure that they understand that they don't have to, you know, be snobs to enjoy, you
know, enjoy classical music.
So that's one of the biggest challenges.
And of course, you know, another challenge is to keep it financially running because
it all costs money.
So you know, trying to figure out sponsoring, trying to figure out donors, trying to figure
out, connect with all these people.
So it's a huge machine area that runs in the background, not just what you see as a final
product, which is the concert.
So those are the challenges to, you know, that I think every music director coming to
a new place actually has to overcome to, to make, make that happen.
I think that art is extremely important in people's lives.
There was an interesting point made not too long ago.
I think it was someone speaking at a graduation ceremony and this person who was talking to
students in music school, he said, you know what, I know you are into music.
That's wonderful.
You will never make any money doing it.
I mean, it's just very difficult to make money.
It's still life, you know, but you do it for the, for the love of art because you believe
that there is value to it.
And he made a very good point.
He said, you know, when Second World War happened and, you know, Nazis were locking
up Jews in Jewish people in, in concentration camps, what was the last thing that these
people in the camps had?
Everything was taking away from them.
What kept them alive?
What really keeps people alive?
You might say food.
Yes.
Right.
You might say football, perhaps, but then they didn't have that.
They had only one thing and that was art.
They always cling to art and that was the last thing and that's what made them survive.
And I think that's, I might exaggerate in this sense, but I think that's what keeps
us, even though we don't know about it, we don't, it's the same with subconscious thing.
It will, it will give us some kind of a, something to live for, some bottom thing that subconsciously
makes us better people.
And I think art does that.
Be it a painting, be it an art as a Beethoven listening to music, classical music, whatever
it is, it just, there is something about it that keeps us alive.
That's why it's, I think it's important to still have that.
That's why it's important to still have that, that's why it's important to still have that.
