{"id":5267,"date":"2026-03-16T12:00:45","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T11:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firkusny.cz\/program\/marek-kozak\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T14:42:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T13:42:35","slug":"marek-kozak-6-11-2026","status":"publish","type":"event","link":"https:\/\/firkusny.cz\/en\/programme\/marek-kozak-6-11-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Marek Koz\u00e1k"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<div class=\"text-image text-image--left\">\n    <div class=\"container\">\n        <div class=\"text-image__wrapper text-image__wrapper--left text-image__wrapper--bg text-image__wrapper--bg-white\">\n                            <div class=\"text-image__content\">\n                    <p><strong>Marek Koz\u00e1k<\/strong>, recipient of the prestigious Ji\u0159\u00ed B\u011blohl\u00e1vek Prize for young Czech artists under the age of thirty in 2025, is renowned for his unfailing technique, rich palette of tone colours and deeply felt musicality. \u201cHe embodies precision, sincerity and a sensitive approach to interpretation,\u201d wrote the music portal Operaplus.cz. He first attracted wider attention through successes in a number of international competitions. In 2015 he reached the semi-finals of the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. He is also a laureate of the Prague Spring International Music Competition, the Bach Competition in Leipzig and the Concours G\u00e9za Anda in Zurich. He has performed with Czech and European orchestras including the Tonhalle-Orchester Z\u00fcrich and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Highlights of his current season include a return to the Tonhalle Zurich, an appearance at the Czech Philharmonic\u2019s Open-Air concert with the French conductor Alain Altinoglu, and a recital with the soprano Simona \u0160aturov\u00e1 as part of the Jan\u00e1\u010dek Philharmonic Orchestra season.<\/p>\n<p>At the Rudolf Firku\u0161n\u00fd Piano Festival, he will present a programme of music from three centuries inspired by dance. He will begin by recalling his success at the Bach Competition in Leipzig with <strong>Johann Sebastian Bach<\/strong>\u2019s <em>Partita in B-flat major<\/em>, a suite of Baroque dances including the allemande, sarabande, minuet and gigue. This will be followed by a selection from <strong>Smetana<\/strong>\u2019s <em>Czech Dances.<\/em> The second half of the evening will belong to the waltz. <strong>Maurice Ravel<\/strong>\u2019s <em>Valses nobles et sentimentales<\/em> \u2013 inspired without doubt by the waltzes of Franz Schubert \u2013 combine a typically French elegance with melancholy and a touch of irony. One of Schubert\u2019s waltzes will also be heard in a transcription by <strong>Franz Liszt<\/strong>, who included it among other dances in his cycle <em>Soir\u00e9es de Vienne<\/em>. The recital will conclude with Liszt\u2019s virtuoso <em>Mephisto Waltz No. 1,<\/em> in which Marek Koz\u00e1k will display the full brilliance of his artistry. \u201cThe personality of Franz Liszt has fascinated me since my student years, and his <em>Mephisto Waltz<\/em> was for a long time one of my unfulfilled dreams,\u201d the pianist confides. \u201cCharming Bach, Smetana inspired by folk music, the soaring and poetic Ravel, the salon elegance of Schubert and the diabolical virtuosity of Liszt. Their dances tell stories \u2013 each different, each with its own inner world. I very much look forward to telling you all of them from the piano on the first Friday of November at the Rudolfinum,\u201d the artist adds.<\/p>\n                                    <\/div>\n                                        <div class=\"text-image__image-wrapper\">\n                                            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/firkusny.cz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/male_1106_Marek-Kozak_\u00a9_Keishiro-Mikawa.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"text-image__image\">\n                                        <\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":5178,"template":"","event_category":[16],"event_type":[15],"class_list":["post-5267","event","type-event","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","event_category-firkusny-en","event_type-prague-spring"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firkusny.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event\/5267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firkusny.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firkusny.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/event"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firkusny.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firkusny.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"event_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firkusny.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event_category?post=5267"},{"taxonomy":"event_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firkusny.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event_type?post=5267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}