Milan Báchorek

* 1939

  • “King David was studied with an orchestra, choirs, and soloists. The day before the concert, when there was rehearsal, he was called (Otakar Trhlík) to the party's regional committee, where he was told that he was not allowed to perform the composition in Ostrava. Everything has already been rehearsed and ready. They said to him: 'You will be ill.' He was taken to the hospital by an ambulance, where he laid as a patient at the time of the concert.”

  • “With Bohuslav Martinů, it mattered that he had a lot of compositions with ecclesiastical overtones, or were strictly ecclesiastical. It bothered a regime that was strongly against religion. Ostrava was characteristic of it. There were no organ concerts here either, not to think of playing church compositions. In Ostrava it was a bit stricter in this respect than elsewhere. For example, an organ festival with spiritual content was held in Olomouc. There could be no such thing in Ostrava. My brother-in-law, an organist Vladimír Svatoš, who taught the organ at the conservatory and went through purgatory in this regard, could tell about it. Everyone asked him what it was for.”

  • “There was an interesting band at home. Mum and aunt played cello, uncle played violin, sister played piano and dad played accordion. It was his passion he had brought from World War, when he was fighting at Piava. He bought a button accordion with a hundred and twenty bass. This is a relatively large machine to play anything. It was a kind of scramble, as we called it. It was played every second Saturday in our house or backyard.”

  • “We were a school whose students wandered around Ostrava. Wandering around the city had its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage was that in many cases it was possible to arrive late. The downside was that the transfers were often not possible, even if one wanted. We had lessons in theaters, in the house of art between paintings, in the Theater of Music, in the Youth Theater, which was later demolished. We were on the radio and later on television. It influenced our outlook and perception of the artistic environment.”

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    v Ostravě, 21.05.2019

    (audio)
    délka: 02:30:57
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the region - Central Moravia
  • 2

    v Ostravě, 23.05.2019

    (audio)
    délka: 01:24:08
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the region - Central Moravia
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

All my life I have served music with humility

Milan Báchorek in 1980s
Milan Báchorek in 1980s
zdroj: Archiv Milana Báchorka

Milan Báchorek was born on August 18, 1939 in Staříč in Frýdek-Místek. His father worked as a rolling mill, his mother was a seamstress. Parents, sister and other relatives formed a family band and performed domestic music productions. He studied piano at the College of Music Education in Ostrava, which later became a conservatory. He taught at the Music School in Frenštát pod Radhoštěm for seven years. He also studied composition at the conservatory and then taught there for many years. He is one of the prominent Czech composers of the second half of the 20th century. The most appreciated works include the vocal symphonic compositions Lidice, Stereofonietta and Hukvald poem. He was actively involved in organizing musical life in the North Moravian region. He was a long-time choirmaster of the Radhošť Choir and Bohuslav Martinů Women‘s Choir in Frýdek-Místek. In 1992 to 2004 he managed the Ostrava Conservatory. Under his leadership, the school moved to new premises and was named the Janáček Conservatory Ostrava.