Palacky University in Olomouc

Tuesday was filled with lectures---on music and surrealism at Janacek Academy, for the student composers, and, after being driven to Palacky University, the same lecture there, for the musicology students. Swerving from Boulez’s Structures 1a to the Rev. Fred Lane in his rendition of The Man with the Fold-Back Ears, part of my surrealism lecture, I followed up with a third lecture, on my music, for the music education students. Palacky University, located in Olomouc and more than 400 years old, is the second oldest university in the Czech Republic. The Music Education Department, part of the Arts Centre of Palacky University, is housed in a huge, strikingly beautiful Baroque building, along with other arts disciplines. A former Jesuit monastery, it was renovated about five years ago with great attention to detail. The photo was taken in one of the long winding hallways.

Trombones and Translation at the Janacek Academy

Today began with guest teaching a morning class on the interpretation of notation at the Janacek Academy. Since the first two students came in hauling their trombones, I elected at the last minute to show them slides of Monique Buzzarte's custom-built interface that we used for the piece I wrote for her, The Left Side of Time, and then to demonstrate some of the notational solutions for that piece. Later I gave a seminar for composition faculty and student composers, concerning my attitude toward composition, and then analyzing Transfiguration, my work for soprano, flute, harp, and percussion. My excellent translator, Jareck, even tackled the intertextual commentaries woven into the Djuna Barnes poem that forms the centerpiece of the composition. The reward this evening: frothy glasses of Czech beer shared with Jaroslav Stastny-Pokorny (not in photo), Marketa Dvorakova, and the Dean of the Music School, Ivo Medek. Na zdravi!

Brno or Bust

Actually it was a mellow train ride of ninety minutes across the border. To offset the McDonalds and KFC infringing on the main square, here is the neo-gothic Petrov Cathedral (Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul), taken from the eleventh floor of my room at the Continental Hotel. Tomorrow I visit classes, lecture, and meet with students at the Janacek Academy...with a well-stocked brain after a genuine Czech meal of the local steamed sand (a fish, just in case you were beginning to wonder).