KAREL ANČERL
110TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY
11th April 2018
Today we celebrate the 110th birth anniversary of the legendary conductor Karel Ančerl.
Karel Ančerl was born on 11 April 1908 in the village of Tučapy. He studied composition, conducting and percussion at the conservatory. Of great importance for the next part of his artistic career was his regular participation in rehearsals with the Czech Philharmonic, where he could observe the work of Václav Talich and a number of leading foreign conductors.
The greatest period of Karel Ančerl’s artistic activity began on 20 October 1950, when he was named artistic director of the Czech Philharmonic. Thanks to Karel Ančerl, the Czech Philharmonic could number itself among the very finest international orchestras and became a first-rate export article. Without underestimating the enormous artistic debt of Václav Talich and Rafael Kubelík towards the creation of the basic aesthetic character of the Czech Philharmonic, we can safely say that Karel Ančerl was its first conductor of international repute and that he led the orchestra to masterful virtuosity and worldwide fame.
He died on 3 July 1973 in Toronto.
The Karel Ančerl Gold Edition is the collection of 42 reissued and remastered albums from 1950 until 1968, when Karel Ančerl left Czechoslovakia in the wake of the Soviet invasion. The CDs were released by SUPRAPHON between 2002 and 2005.In 2006, this set was awarded the most prestigious prize by Grand Prix du Disque de l'Académie de Charles Cros due to the exceptional artistic and technical level of the classical music recordings.