BELFIATO QUINTET

On 18 August 2017, the Belfiato Quintet, one of the most internationally acclaimed contemporary Czech chamber ensembles, will release their debut album (SU 4230–2) on Supraphon worldwide. The studio recording exclusively features works by Czech composers of the first half of the 20th century – Josef Bohuslav Foerster, Pavel Haas and Leoš Janáček. “We have selected three pieces that came into being within a mere two decades, yet they starkly differ as regards the style. When composing his Quintet in D major, Foerster was 50 years of age, so we can say that he was at the zenith of his creativity. Janáček wrote his sextet Youth when he was in his 70s, while Haas was only 30 when he composed his Wind Quintet. The narrow time range within which the works were written has given rise to the album’s coming across as an interesting whole, even though the individual pieces are stylistically contrastive,” says the oboist Jan Souček. The flautist Oto Reiprich adds: “So as to attain the highest forcibility of Janáček’s sextet Youth, we invited to the studio the bass clarinettist Jindřich Pavliš from Clarinet Factory.”

The members of the young wind quintet perform with renowned orchestras (the Czech Philharmonic, the Prague Philharmonia, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, etc.), and either as individuals or as an ensemble have garnered prestigious accolades (e.g. Kateřina Javůrková’s victory at the ARD Munich competition, the quintet’s receiving first prize in Semmering, third prize at the international wind quintet competition in Marseille, etc.) “The Belfiato Quintet is like a family. We have played together since we were very young and we know virtually everything there is to know about each other. We also spend plenty of time together without our instruments, we are a good bunch of friends,” the horn player Kateřina Javůrková points out, adding with a smile: “I think one girl in the ensemble is enough.”

Following their debut album’s Czech release, on 17 July the Belfiato Quintet had a concert at the prestigious Radio France Festival in Montpellier. On 10 November, they are scheduled to launch a 10-day tour of Japan.

The Belfiato Quintet is made up of: Oto Reiprich – flute, Jan Souček – oboe, Jiří Javůrek – clarinet, Ondřej Šindelář – bassoon, Kateřina Javůrková – horn.

For further details, please visit:
www.belfiato.cz