milan pala
violin
Milan Pala (1982) is a Czecho-Slovak violinist. During his studies at the Conservatoire of J.L. Bellu in Banska Bystrica he won numerous awards and gained international attention in European competitions such as the Concourse Moderne in Riga, the Anglo-Czecho-Slovak Trust in London, the Leoš Janáček International Competition in Brno, and the Bohuslav Martinu Competition, among others. He continued his studies at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, and the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno, during which time he was more and more inclined towards a combination of violin schools. In a private class with Semyon Yaroshevich he familiarized himself with the legendary Russian school of David Oistrakh, but a close relationship and creative collaboration with the legendary French composer and organist Jean Guillou caused him to focus more and more on the elements of French modernism. During this time Milan Pala regularly attended the international masterclasses of Vladimir Spivakov in Zurich.
Today Milan Pala is a prominent and celebrated violinist, and experts rightly classify him among the elite of young generation artists. As a soloist he has collaborated with the National Radio Symphony Orchestra Kiev, Kioi Sinfonietta Tokyo, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Congress Orchestra, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic; St Petersburg State, Capella Symphony Orchestra, Brno Philharmonic, Altenburg-Gera Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra and others. He has also worked with conductors such as Theodor Guschlbauer, Howard Arman, Alexander Cernusenko, Leos Svarovsky, Mario Kosik, Aleksandar Markovic, Andreas Sebastian Weiser, Ondrej Vrabec, Ondrej Olos, David Svec, Peter Gribanov and others.
The discography of Milan Pala is made up of over twenty recordings. One of these is a unique and unsurpassed project; an anthology of Slovak works for solo violin, which won the 2009, Ľudovít Rajter Award. Milan is one of only two young interpreters of Slovak music to be awarded this prize, which he won not only for his exceptional performance skills, but also for his unique approach to Slovak music. In 2014 he won the Ministry of Culture and Tatra Banka Foundation Award for Art.
Some of Milan Pala’s exceptional qualities can be seen in the Czech Television documentary of 2012, which focuses on the lives of the best young Czech classical musicians. Throughout the documentary we can enjoy the works of J. Irshaye, A. Schnittke and J. Guillou at their highest quality.