January 2019 Track of the Month:
Viktor Kalabis Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings Op.42, Zuzana Růžičková, soloist

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TMF Executive Director Mark Ludwig and Zuzana Ruzicková
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Zuzana Ruzicková and Viktor Kalabis

Honoring the January 14 birthday of harpsichordist
ZUZANA RUZICKOVÁ

Ms. Ruzicková, a treasured friend and supporter of TMF, passed away September 27, 2017 at age 90. She was a world famous harpsichordist and for fifty-four years the creative collaborator and wife of composer Viktor Kalabis. This recording features Ms. Ruzicková as soloist with the Prague Chamber Orchestra, performing Kalabis's Concerto for Harpisichord and Strings Op. 42.

Ms. Ruzickova survived Terezín and Auschwitz. Her life is aptly documented in this obituary in The Guardian.

Viktor Kalabis (1923-2006) was born in Bohemia and began performing on piano at age six. His hope of studying music in Prague was dashed by the Nazi occupation in 1938, when he was forced into factory work. Nevertheless, he was able to conduct and perform, and to study with Jaroslav Ridky and Pavel Dedecek. 

After the war, he completed studies at Prague Conservatory and enrolled at the Academy of Music and Charles University. There he met famed harpsichordist Zuzana Ruzicková, and the two were married in 1952. They refused to join the Communist Party and faced endless adversity, yet they achieved enormous international success.

In 1957, Viktor's Concert for violoncello, Op. 8 was taken up by Manuel Rosenthal and performed to acclaim by the Orchestra de Paris at the Theatre de Champs Elysees. Since then, his music has been widely performed, with commissions by the Czech Philharmonic, the Dresden Philharmonic, Camerata Zurich, Josef Suk, Janos Starker, The Prague Spring Festival, and many others.

The Prague Spring of 1968 and the subsequent Russian occupation greatly influenced Viktor's music, and the 1989 Velvet Revolution brought him many offers of prominent positions in the city's musical life. He died on September 28, 2006.
LISTEN TO MORE MUSIC BY KALABIS, on a TMF CD,
VIKTOR KALABIS: Music for Clarinet and Horn. 
Digital downloads at iTunes, CD Baby, and Amazon. 
​Hardcopy CD available from TMF.
More about Ruzicková, Kalabis, and the CD: