What were your beginnings like? I suppose they differed from the present. <\/strong><\/p>\nI wouldn\u2019t say so. The competition was already set into four age categories. Then, prof. Otakar Stejskal from the Prague conservatory, who was the one to finish the age distribution, was in the lead of the nine-member jury. Of course, there were issues regarding accommodations, but local boarding houses helped us figure out the situation. I as a new member of the organization team suggested to publish a Newsletter during the competition. We were printing it under the stage on a spirit apparatus called \u201cOrmig\u201d. While we were at the best, people came running from the stage with a complaint that there is a taproom kind of odor. We had to move, but the Newsletter came out four times. I don\u2019t even know if at least one copy was preserved. I do not have it, unfortunately. Therefore, this year, the KVC Newsletter has a heading that says, \u201cyear 47\u201d.<\/p>\n
What do you think about the determination and organization spirit of the \u201cold guard\u201d of the \u201cKocianka\u201d? And I do not mean only you, but also Jana Dychtrichov\u00e1, Mrs. Fajtov\u00e1 from the Foundation and others. <\/strong><\/p>\nA competition with such tradition as KVC must be built on the people for whom it matters the world. I cannot do it only as a duty or just for the financial reward. Organizers like that were always found in \u00dast\u00ed throughout the 60 years. I cannot name all of who would deserve it; starting with the founders and ending with our \u201cold guard\u201d. It is important that there are always people who carry the relay; from Klubcentrum, ZU\u0160, functionaries from the town hall or fans of the KVC outside the town. I like to remember all my former co-workers and friends.<\/p>\n
Was there any breakthrough year, after which the competition started a completely different chapter?<\/strong><\/p>\nPrimarily, it was the year 1965 when the KVC became an international competition; the number of categories stabilized, and the absolute winner was given the title \u201claureate of the KVC\u201d. Peter Co\u010dev Del\u010dev from Bulgaria became the first laureate and a year later, the title went to a first Czech contestant Bohuslav Matou\u0161ek. The competition also got its logo that we still use today. The author of the dove with the heart in form of a treble clef was a well-known Czech graphic designer Jaroslav Cheben, who is no longer with us. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Which Czech winner or laureate stuck into your memory and why?<\/strong><\/p>\nThat is a very difficult question. Of course, there are more of them because they all seem to me as our children that we are letting go into the world on a musical journey, which is not always easy. After all, I would mention two of them. It is Pavel Eret, a humble boy, who dared to uphold the given title and he remains the only one to achieve that. And then we have Pavel \u0160porcl and I am not saying it only because he\u2019s been a patron of the competition for three years! He used to come to \u00dast\u00ed with his teacher Mr. Havel for a few years. He was gradually getting awards in different categories; he was getting better with years, but he was still the same little blonde, rather shy boy. When he won the third category in 1986 and got the most points and the title \u201claureate of the KVC\u201d, nothing changed. He remained the same Pavel that we knew all the years. Simply our \u201c\u0160porcl\u00edk\u201d how we used to call him.<\/p>\n
How about the foreign ones?<\/strong><\/p>\nIn this case, it is unambiguous. The year 1984, the first category, and the excellent performance of the seven-year-old Stefan Milenkovich from that time\u2019s Yugoslavia. The jury with V\u00e1clav Sn\u00edtil in the lead was astonished. Then, when the gained points were counted, we found out that no one else got more. The debate whether it is possible for the winner of the first category to get the laureate title arose. Until then, usually, the absolute winner was from the IV. category. The propositions clearly said that the one who gains the most point becomes a laureate. V\u00e1clav Sn\u00edtil also unambiguously said that the performance of Stefan fits the score and a sensation was alive. I am very happy that Stefan returned to \u00dast\u00ed after many years in the \u201cProlog\u201d of this year\u2019s Kocianovo \u00dast\u00ed.<\/p>\n
Pavel H\u016fla refers to you as the fighter for the competition, without whom it would not exist today. Did this critical situation really occur? If yes, what decided that the competition that carries the name of a famous native from \u00dast\u00ed could go on?<\/strong><\/p>\nPavel is exaggerating. A fighter for the competition, yes, but always shielded by the co-workers and especially the Foundation of Maestro Jaroslav Kocian. That was always a certainty, especially on the financial side. When the clouds gathered upon the competition, the sun always came back, and the show went on.<\/p>\n
About the jubilee year, does it have some tops for you? Is there anything that you especially do not want to miss?<\/strong><\/p>\nThat would surely be the Ceremonial concert for the 60th anniversary of the KVC, at which the whole parade of the laureates will perform.<\/p>\n
Since we are talking about the concerts, are you going to all of them?<\/strong><\/p>\nOf course, if my health lets me, I am looking forward to all of them. I already mentioned the recital on Stefan Milenkovich and the ending will also surely be enjoyable. After many years, the Ceremonial Mass composed by Jaroslav Kocian in 1905 will be played in the dean\u2019s temple.<\/p>\n
Is there any human interaction without which \u201cKocianka\u201d cannot exist for you? Before, it was surely the long-time chairman of the jury professor Sn\u00edtil, but he is now looking at us only from the musical Heaven. <\/strong><\/p>\nOf course, I cannot forget V\u00e1clav Sn\u00edtil. However, every year, Ivan \u0160traus comes to \u00dast\u00ed, usually with some pupil of his. But if you\u2019re asking without whom I couldn\u2019t imagine the KVC, then it is the annual meetings with Ludmila Str\u00e1nka, a former violin teacher, a member of the first jury of the KVC with the chairman Maestro Bohu\u0161 Heran in 1959. L\u00edda hasn\u2019t missed not one competition yet; as an honorable member of the jury, she will come to \u00dast\u00ed for the 60th<\/sup> time. That\u2019s what I call determination!<\/p>\nHow do you personally perceive the symbiosis of the competition and the significantly younger festival? Do they harmonize and support each other?<\/strong><\/p>\nIn fact, Kocianovo \u00dast\u00ed is older than the KVC. It was held from the mid-fifties and in 1959, Kocian\u2019s Competition for young violinists became its part. Already in the nineties, there were supplementary concerts within the KVC. Therefore, when Jaroslav Sv\u011bcen\u00fd came with the idea of a supplementary program for the KVC in form of a comprehensive music festival in 2005, the thought was supported and the name \u201cKocianovo \u00dast\u00ed\u201d was offering itself. In twelve-year time, the festival of course underwent its evolution. Jaroslav Sv\u011bcen\u00fd was making it for the first ten years. Two years ago, the dramaturgy was passed to Pavel \u0160porcl. Anyway, the competition and the festival are mutually connected and together, they create one whole even though they are two soberly separate events.<\/p>\n
What do you think about the support from the town and the approach of its management? Was the relationship always positive, or was it changing in time?<\/strong><\/p>\nThe support of the town in such event as the KVC always develops from the focus of the leading functionaries of the town hall. Some like culture, some sports, some postage stamps, other gardeners. Honestly, I must confirm that the support for the competition was always found at the town hall. Sometimes it was bigger, other times smaller, but with time, the KVC became such a strong tradition that there were always enough hands for financial help. I experienced it myself when I was functioning at the town hall in the leading positions. Of course, we had to remember the culture, but also the sport and other activities. Today, the support from the town hall is very high. The connection with the Foundation of Maestro Jaroslav Kocian proved to be useful, especially in the last years. As the mayor Petr H\u00e1jek says \u2013 Kocianovo \u00dast\u00ed and the Kocian\u2019s Violin Competition are the town\u2019s flagship.<\/p>\n
A new and a very significant face of the competition and the festival is Pavel \u0160porcl, a man \u201craised\u201d by \u201cKoci\u00e1nka\u201d. Do you think that this front Czech virtuoso is right for our competition?<\/strong><\/p>\nI already praised Pavel in the previous answers. Naturally, his \u201cfunction\u201d as a patron of the competition prove itself. Pavel \u0160porcl takes it seriously. The whole week, he is around the competitors; he closely observes their performances and as he says \u2013 he is near to dry the tears of happiness or disappointment or to tune the violin of a small Mongolian competitor in the first category when he can\u2019t do it himself. The competition orchestra, which he made, is for sure a great experience for the little violinists. After all, Pavel \u0160porcl performs with them as a soloist!<\/p>\n
What should be changed, improved or adjusted in the next sixty years? Do you prefer essential changes or a conservatory approach?<\/strong><\/p>\nI think that the essential changes are not needed. The number of categories has proven oneself with the time. The compulsory pieces are chosen by the jury and it is only up to them how difficult is each category going to be. Naturally, it calls for prudence, so the difficulty doesn\u2019t turn against the competition. The competition was mainly established for the Czech promising violinists, but I am little scared that the amount of our children in the greatest category is getting smaller. Learning to play the violin is very difficult and there are many different attractions. We will also have to get used to the fact that even in the children\u2019s competitions, there are financial prizes. In this, I am personally conservative, but it is just something that life brings. We will have to find new sponsors. However, from many years of experience I believe that the competition has a good perspective.<\/p>\n
I think that we do not have to conceal the fact that the Foundation of Maestro Jaroslav Kocian, who are you a chairman of for many years, is financing the publication of my book, which will be baptized at the beginning of the competition week. What led you to support this activity?<\/strong><\/p>\nFirst, I think that Pavel H\u016fla deserves this book. For his long-time warm relationship to the competition, Jaroslav Kocian, and our town. Concurrently, we also pay tribute to the anniversary of \u201cKocianka\u201d with this publication. That is because in the interview with Pavel H\u016fla reflects the whole history of the competition, on which this excellent violinist participated. Thank you, too, of course, for the initiative that led to writing the whole interview.<\/p>\n
Talking about books and writing \u2013 you wrote a lot about \u201cKocianka\u201d. Are you going to complete the almanac texts that could not exist without your effort?<\/strong><\/p>\nI was the author of the Almanac \u201cFour Decades of the KVC\u201d in 1998 and \u201cHalf of a Century of the KVC\u201d in 2008. Those copies are obviously unavailable, but they are available in the electronic form on our www website. Therefore, this year, only an addition to these almanacs will be published in the competition brochure of the KVC. It will only briefly with words and pictures contain the period between 2008 and 2018.<\/p>\n
Do you somehow conceal that after this year you are leaving for your \u201chard earned rest\u201d? Is there any chance that it would change? What led you to this decision?<\/strong><\/p>\nAn old Czech saying says: \u201cStop at the best!\u201d And I want to follow it. I remember a lot and I see that for making decisions, in many areas, young blood is needed, and I would hate to only become a tolerated barrier. It is important that co-workers who are a guarantee that the show can go on appeared. Of course, I am only leaving the function of the chairman of the Foundation of Maestro Jaroslav Kocian. If there is any further interest of my services on the pages of the chronicles of the competition or sometimes a piece of advice is needed, of course, if my health lets me, I will happily be available.<\/p>\n
And finally, if you look back at the decades of dedicated work for the KVC, what did it give and take from you?<\/strong><\/p>\nFirstly, it gave me hundreds of wonderful memories, meetings, making of many friendships. What could be better than closely observing the birth of our violin stars? After all, the best we have today went through our competition. We still meet some of them today. I won\u2019t stop treasuring the friendship with V\u00e1clav Sn\u00edtil until my death. Memories of many excellent people who I encountered at the competition will always stay. What did it take from me? Perhaps only a lot of free time that I had to sacrifice to the preparation and organization, but that is a matter of course. I never neglected my family, quite the opposite, my kids picked up a beautiful relationship to music.<\/p>\n
photo: Adam Faltus<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An old Czech saying says: \u201cStop at the best!\u201d \u00dast\u00ed n. O. \u2013 He is the most experienced organizer of the Kocian\u2019s violin celebration. Without his activities, the competition would no longer exist, claims the chairman of the jury Pavel H\u016fla. We are talking about Pavel Sedl\u00e1\u010dek, the chairman of the Foundation of Maestro Jaroslav […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1410,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-novinky-soutez","category-soutez"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/MG_9818-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9KsEQ-mJ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1409"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1412,"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1409\/revisions\/1412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kocianovo-usti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/a>can go on appeared,\u201d he says in an interview that he provided to the competition and festival newsletter that he helped on establishing. \u201cWe were printing it under the stage on a spirit apparatus called \u201cOrmig\u201d. While we were at the best, people came running from the stage with a complaint that there is a taproom kind of odor,\u201d he remembers with laugh.<\/p>\n