Theatre work and fame is extremely fleeting. Man does his job for many years, he leaves and there remains almost nothing except memories, which also gradually fade. Jiří Pinkas was the chief conductor of the Brno opera for thirteen years and for some time he worked in the Brno Philharmonic.
The name Jiří Pinkas can still sometimes be heard on Czech Radio, when some opera recordings from the archive are played. The Supraphon archive is not overabundant, but some CDs can still be found, mainly with music by Antonín Dvořák. The complete recording of The Jacobin was made by Pinkas in 1978 with the Brno Philharmonic and the leading singers of that time: Karel Berman, Vilém Přibyl, Ben Blachut, Marcela Machotková, Ivana Mixová and others. With the Brno Philharmonic, he also recorded Legends by Dvořák and the Piano Concerto No.1 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – the soloist is Valentina Kameníková. With the Janáček Theatre ensemble, with which he spent a significant part of his life, he recorded The Devil and Kate. The only accessible recording of Janáček’s compositions – The Eternal Gospel, Lord Have Mercy and others – was recorded with the Symphonic Orchestra of Prague FOK. His symphonic recordings recall part of the South Bohemian Suite by Vítězslav Novák.
Jiří Pinkas was born on 28 October 1920, yesterday he would have celebrated his ninety fifth birthday. After graduating from the Prague conservatory he worked as a conductor and choirmaster for Czech Radio in the years 1945 – 1966. He was also an excellent piano player. He came to Brno for the first time as an opera conductor in 1955 – therefore to the Mahen Theatre and in 1962 – 1966 he conducted also the (State) Brno Philharmonic. Then he went to the Ostrava opera, where he mainly cooperated with directors Ilja Hylas and Miloslav Nekvasil. He came back to the Brno opera in 1978, only to become its chief conductor. He stayed at this post until 1993. Jiří Pinkas died on 1 July 2007 in Brno.
Antonín Balatka, like Jiří Pinka, graduated from the Prague conservatory and he was also the chief conductor of the Brno opera. He was a student of Vítězslav Novák, in the years 1949 – 1959 he worked as a répétiteur in Ljubljana. In 1929, after the death of František Neumann, he came to Brno to work as the chief conductor and dramatic adviser of the opera. He cooperated with Osvald Chlubna, Zdeněk Chalabala and he presented contemporary Czech productions (Bohuslav Martinů, Osvald Chlubna, Rudolf Karel) as well as works of authors from Yugoslavia. He gave lessons at the conservatory and later at JAMU. In 1951 he was appointed associate professor and he held the position of vice-dean of the Musical Faculty. Antonín Balatka was born on 27 October 1895 in Prague and two days ago he would have celebrated his hundred and twentieth birthday. He died on 25 July 1958 in Brno.
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