Pavel Jeřábek

He graduated from the Prague Conservatory, having studied piano and composition there from 1965 to 1971. His instructors were the pianist Lev Elsch and the composer Zdeněk Hůla. Later on, in 1976, he graduated also from the Music Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts where he had studied in Jiří Pauer's class. His graduation composition was his Symphony for grand orchestra. In 1975 he took part in composition courses led by Frank Donatoni at the Accademia musicale Chigiana in Sienna.

From the 1970s he worked as the editor in chief of the Czech Music Fund - Panton publishing house. His compositions, for the most part based on a kind of loosely tonal musical speech, were regularly performed at such festivals as the Weeks of New Production or the Prague Spring.

The best characteristic of Jeřábek's work comes from the composer himself: "The purpose of my work lies in the formulation of an inner experience, its conveyance to the listener and the effort to shape it into a convincing and comprehensible form. I believe that any means of expression and any experiment can only be legitimate as long as it represents an organic part of the composer's mode of communication, and helps express his or her intended message."

Jeřábek's compositional output includes symphonic and vocal symphonic works, chamber, vocal, educational, and instructive opuses. Some of his compositions - the cantata Song of Anxiety (Zpěv úzkosti), the Sonata for violoncello and piano "Revolutionary" (Revoluční) - were awarded in national competitions for young composers.

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