The group of young women composers HUDBABY/MUSICRONES was formed in 1997 at the Janacek Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno, where the majority of the group’s members had studied at the time. Although different career paths and life took them apart, and some of them also far away from their alma mater, the idea of women working together and supporting each other through group projects and joint presentation, has not lost its initial appeal. It still brings them together from time to time to develop new projects and joint presentations. As a result, the music of HUDBABY has been heard at various festivals of new music, such as Expozice nove hudby (New Music Expo) in Brno, Forfest in Kromeriz, and Mlade pódium (Young Stage) in Karlovy Vary, at concerts in Germany (Kassel, Hannover, Heidelberg, Köln), and radio broadcasts in the Czech Republic, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States, and Canada. In 2003, the independent Prague label LOTOS released the group’s first profile CD HUDBABY (LT 0128-2131, Lotos, Prague, 2003), featuring the music by Katerina Ruzickova, Lenka Foltynova, Barbora skrlova and Marketa Dvorakova. By the end of 2009, a second CD recording of the group was released by the Czech Radio label Radioservis. Its title Cekam Te!/ I am waiting for you! refers to the last composition of Leos Janacek, from his Album for Kamila Stösslova. This joint project of Hudbaby was first introduced a year before at contemporary music festivals in the Czech Republic, including Hudebni soucasnost (Musical Presence) in Ostrava, Setkavani nove hudby plus (New Music Encounters Plus) in Brno, and Pohyb, zvuk, prostor (Movement, Sound, Space) in Opava. The project was warmly received by festival audiences, and it was this favourable reception that encouraged the group to release it on compact disc.

Wanda Dobrovska