2002

One of the most important events of 2002 was publishing Kapralova's Prélude de Noël, a charming piece for chamber orchestra, composed a few days before Christmas 1939. The work is the first of the group of orchestral compositions by Kapralova selected for future publication by the Czech Radio Publishing House. Another good news last year was the decision of Max Eschig Publishers to re-list the 1938 edition of Kapralova's Variations sur le Carillon de l'eglise St-Etienne-du-Mont in their piano catalogue.

Other notable events of the last year included world premieres of two Kapralova compositions: Concertino for Violin, Clarinet and Orchestra and the song cycle Sparks from Ashes. Both took place at the beginning of the year: Concertino received its public premiere from the Hradec Kralove Philharmonic under the baton of Tomas Hanus and with soloists Pavel Wallinger and Pavel Busek, in Hradec Kralove (Czech Republic) on January 10; Sparks from Ashes was given its first performance by Timothy Cheek and Freda Herseth at the faculty recital at the University of Michigan on January 24. Another important event was the New York premiere of April Preludes, performed by Jenny Lin on February 19. April Preludes and Kapralova's art songs were performed most often last year, followed by her compositions for violin and piano and her string quartet. The string quartet was also recorded by Kapralova Quartet for Czech Radio.

Kapralova's music was broadcast last year by Czech Radio 3 (Vltava) and public radio networks in Chicago and Princeton. In addition, Detroit Public Radio's producer Celeste Headlee prepared a brief program promoting the aforementioned University of Michigan recital. The recital was recorded and broadcast by the University of Michigan TV station. Kapralova's music was also promoted at an art film festival in Asolo (Italy), which presented Last Concertino, a documentary about the composer's life and work, produced by Czech Television (Brno Studio) in 2001.

Reviews of Kapralova's music were published in New York Times (Anne Midgette), Classics Today (Victor Carr), VivaVoce (Constanze Holze), Dvorak Society Newsletter No. 58 and 61 (Karel Janovicky, Douglas Hollick), and iperdue.com (Marco del Vaglio). Articles promoting Kapralova's life and music appeared in Music@Michigan 35/2, VivaVoce 2002/62 (Karla Hartl and Eugene Gates), Czech Music 21 (Gates and Hartl, Alena Nemcova, and Ales Brezina), and Zpravodaj K2001 (Josef Kapral). Sursum (Tisnov, Czech Rep.) published the 2nd edition of Jindrich Uher's novel-pseudobiography of Kapralova; and the composer was also mentioned in Jiri Mihule's new biography of Bohuslav Martinu, published in Prague by Karolinum.

The composer's life and work were the topics of two pre-recital lectures, presented by Karla Hartl and Zdenka Brodska at the University of Michigan in January. Kapralova's life and work were also promoted at two academic conferences: the first organized by the Cambridge University in April, the second presented by the College Music Society in Kansas City in September. Dr. Timothy Cheek of University of Michigan presented at both conferences his paper 'Navzdy Kapralova': Reevaluating Czech composer Vitezslava Kapralova through her thirty songs.

Last year, Kapralova was a research subject of two new undergraduate theses (Charles University's Institute of Musicology in Prague and the Department of Cultural Anthropology at the Pilsen University). Her life and work also inspired fellow artists: her Partita was an inspiration for Katerina Ruzickova's Life Attitudes for Piano and Strings, and one of her April Preludes provided a theme for Prof.Wolfgang Mastnak's Klangmomente für klavier solo nach motiven von Vitezslava Kapralova.

Finally, after Venus Quartet's decision to change its name to Kapralova Quartet in 2001, the same tribute was paid to Kapralova by the Elementary School for Performing Arts in Brno-Kralovo Pole in 2002. The school's new name – Zakladni umelecka skola Vitezslavy Kapralove –, awarded to the institution by the Ministry of Education owing to the dedicated efforts of Jarmila Mrackova, the school's former headmistress, will promote the composer's name to new generations of young musicians.

women in music and czech music in exile

Our online resources on women in music continue to attract visitors, among them a large number of music students. Last year we added to these resources a database of women conductors and created several online presentations for a few of them: Miriam Nemcova (Czech Republic), Odaline de la Martinez (USA-Great Britain) and Carmen Moral (Peru-France). We also designed web presentations for Czech composers Olga Jezkova and Petra Gavlasova.

Another online initiative of the society - Czech Music in Exile - promotes and celebrates the life and work of sixteen Czech composers who left their native Czechoslovakia during the 20th-century in search of freedom from either fascist of communist regimes. The project is designed to preserve and protect the memory of these gifted composers who deserve to be better known.

acknowledgements

A very special thanks to Liane Curtis for her generous contribution and continuous support to the Kapralova cause.

We thank the following artists who promoted the composer's music in Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and the United States during 2002 (in chronological order): Irena Houkalova, Jaroslav Saroun, Pavel Busek, Pavel Wallinger, Tomas Hanus, the Hradec Kralove Philharmonic, Jenny Lin, Stephen Shipps, Timothy Cheek, Freda Herseth, Caroline Helton, Melody Racine, Anthony Elliot, Marcia Porter, Hana Srubarova, Karel Jasa, Katerina Kraftova, Erik Entwistle, women's choir Vlastimila and conductor Marie Hejduskova, Hawthorne String Quartet, Martina Novakova, Katerina Machackova, Danuse Kristkova, Kapralova Quartet, Jana Tetourova, Lenka Rihova, Iva Fleischhansova, Jacqueline Metcalf, Tomas Visek, Jennifer Goltz, Dianna Dumpel, Megan Besley, Steven McGhee, Bonnie Wagner, Shannon McGinnis, Zuzana Fiserova, Eliska Novotna, Tereza Gregorova, Marta Dembicka, Jarmila Ceskova, Sabina Vajdova, Zdenek Plech, Renata Bialasova, Jana Stefackova and Claudio Canal.

We also wish to thank our partners, friends, and all the others who assisted our work and promoted Kapralova in 2002: Chris Anderson, Jindra Bartova, Frantisek Bilek, Zdenka Brodska, Victor Carr, Timothy Cheek, Chicago Radio Network, Czech Cultural Centre in Paris, Czech Radio Publishing House, Czech Radio (Vltava), Lidmila Dankova, Vera Dolezalova, Dvorak Society for Czech and Slovak Music, Erik Entwistle, Max Eschig Publishers, Eugene Gates, Paul Hartl, Hartl Sala Bell LLP, Celeste Headlee, Tomas Hejzlar, Douglas Hollick, Constanze Holze, Karel Janovicky, Olga Jezkova, Alena and Josef Kapral, Marie Kucerova, Jan Kux, Jenny Lin, Lucent Technologies, Mark Ludwig, Jiri Macek, Fred McGregor, Graham Melville-Mason, Anne Midgette, Jaroslav Mihule, Jarmila Mrackova, Michael S. Pearl, Bedrich Prochazka, Radio France, Milan Slavik, Milos Stedron, Lenka Stranska, Gregory Terian, University of Michigan Office of the Vice President, University of Michigan School of Music, University of Michigan TV Channel 22, Marco del Vaglio, Tomas Visek, WDET Detroit, Hanus Weigl, WPRB Princeton, and Zakladni umelecka skola Vitezslavy Kapralove.

Prepared by Karla Hartl, Chair, The Kapralova Society. Toronto, March 2003.