Radek Baborák / French horn

The horn player and conductor Radek Baborák is one of the most outstanding figures on the classical music scene. Since beginning his solo career over twenty-five years ago, his extraordinary musical performances have enthralled audiences in the most important cultural venues around the world. He has collaborated with many distinguished conductors, including Daniel Barenboim, Seiji Ozawa, Simon Rattle, Neeme Järvi, James Levine, Vladimir Askhenazy, James de Priest and Marek Janowski.

Baborák is a regular guest at prestigious festivals such as the: Salzburger Osterfestspiele; Maggio musicale, Fiorentino; Pacific Music Festival; the White Nights Festival, St.Petersburg; the Chamber Music Garden, Suntory Hall; International Music Festival, Utrecht; Julian Rachlin and Friends, Dubrovník; Le Pontes; Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival; Smetana’s Litomyšl and Prague Spring.

The opening concert of the Olympic Games in Nagano marked the beginning of a long-term collaboration with Maestro Seiji Ozawa. Baborák became a member of the Saito Kinen Orchestra and Mito Chamber Orchestra, and regularly gives concerts with them in Japan, USA and Europe.

Radek Baborák has performed as a soloist with the following orchestras: the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, RSB Berlin, Bamberg Symphony, Bach Akademie Stuttgart, Berlin Baroque Soloists, Radio France Lyon, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Geneva, Philharmonique de Strassbourg, Finnish Radio Orchestra Helsinki, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow Philhramonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Tonkünstler Orchestra Vienna, Mozarteum Salzburg, Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Mito Chamber Orchestra, Saito Kinen Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, RTVE Orchestra Madrid, and Arthur Rubinstein Lodz Philharmonic.

Baborák is especially popular in Japan; since 1994 he has been on regular tours in the country, playing with the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, The Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, Osaka Symphony Orchestra and in many Japanese cities (Nagoya, Kitakyushu, Nagasaki) and prominent venues, including Suntory Hall, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Sapporo Concert Hall Kitara and Kioi Hall.

An essential part of Radek Baborák’s musical life is chamber music. He founded and has been the leader of several ensembles: the Baborák Ensemble, in principal consisting of french horn and string quartet; the Czech Horn Chorus, which continues the 300 year-old tradition of horn playing in the Czech Lands; and the string ensemble Prague Chamber Soloists, whose founding in 1960 is linked with Václav Neumann. He is a member of the Afflatus Quintet, which received first prize at the ARD competition in Munich in 1997. Baborák plays in recitals with the pianist Yoko Kukuchi – the winner of the Mozart Competition in Salzburg, with the organist Aleš Bárta and harpist Jana Boušková. He is a member of Berlin-Munich-Vienna Oktett and collaborates with the Berlin Baroque Soloists.

As a chamber musician he is regularly invited to collaborate with outstanding musicians and personalities, including the pianists Yefim Bronfman, Andras Schiff, Itamar Golan, Denis Kozhukhin, Rudolf Buchbinder, Gerhard Oppitz; violinists Julian Rachlin, Janine Jansen, Guy Braunstein, Daishin Kashimoto, Lorenz Nasturica, Boris Brovtsyn; the cellist Julian Steckel, flautist Emmanuel Pahud, oboe players Albrecht Mayer and Francois Leleux; singers Ian Bostridge, Thomas Quasthoff and Waltraud Mayer.
Radek Baborák had been a senior lecturer at the Fondazione Arturo Toscanini in Parma and holds the position of guest professor at TOHO University Tokyo, Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia and teaches at the Academy of Music in Prague. He has led horn courses in Germany and Switzerland.

At the age of eighteen Baborák was appointed principal horn with the Czech Philharmonic, rather exceptionally without any audition, and he remained in the post for two years. In 1996–2000 he was principal horn with the Munich Philharmonic. In 2001 he signed an exclusive contract with the Bamberg Symphony. Baborák’s post with the Berlin Philharmonic in the years 2003–2010 represents the last chapter of his career as an orchestra player.

www.baborak.com