Hejl & St. Wenceslas Chorale

Matouš Hejl is one of today's most prominent composers. In the meditative atmosphere of the Boletice church, St. Wenceslas Chorale will be performed in a new guise. Variations on the timeless melody will be infused with jazz elements and masterful improvisation by the performers.

An original project by Matouš Hejl, a contemporary Czech composer and improviser who is not afraid to push the boundaries of music. In the Church of St. Nicholas in Boletice, the medieval St. Wenceslas Chorale will be transformed in the hands of three outstanding musicians. The old familiar melody will become the basis for lively musical improvisation, where spiritual peace meets the energy of the present. With the help of his colleagues, Hejl gradually changes the form of the chorale: from an ancient prayer to a modern jazz meditation. The double bass is gradually added to the pure piano sound. The old chorale does not sound like a memory; in Hejl's interpretation, it pulsates and speaks to the present day with all due respect for history.

This concert is part of the Opening Festival Package, which includes three following concerts:

- - - A Thousand and One Nights / Shéhérazade , 17.7. 21:00, Summer Riding Hall Český Krumlov
    - Vondráček & Rachmaninov, 18.7. 19:30, Riding Hall Český Krumlov
    - Hejl & St. Wenceslas Chorale , 19.7. 20:00, St. Nicolas Church in Boletice

You can also find this concert in the festival package called Churches of South Bohemia .
The festival package includes top-category tickets with a 20% discount and access to special offers from festival partners. Available until the end of 2025 or while supplies last.

Artists

Matouš Hejl, Antonín Procházka, Petr Tichý

Program

Matouš Hejl: Improvizace na Svatováclavský chorál (Improvisation on the St. Wenceslas Chorale)

concert without intermission

Matouš Hejl

Matouš Hejl’s work spans concert music, theater, film, and sound installations. Hejl is also active as a pianist and organist. In 2025, his Vespers on the St. Wenceslas Chorale premiered, performed by the Berg Orchestra. In 2023, he prepared the chamber oratorio Josef, and in the same year, his composition Kývání (Swaying) was performed by the Klangforum Wien ensemble at the Prague Spring festival. In 2022, he created the production Opera Ibsen with the theater company JEDL, an adaptation of Ibsen’s play Ghosts, which won the theater critics’ award in the music of the year category. In 2018, he was a finalist in the Czech Philharmonic’s composition competition, which premiered his composition Crossings. The music for the films Lost in Munich (2015) and Old Men (2019, together with Miroslav Srnka) earned Matouš Hejl a Czech Lion nomination for best music. In 2019 and 2020, the Berg Orchestra performed his immersive composition Prolínám, stmívám (I Blend, I Dim). His composition Kaleidoscope (2017), which was premiered by the same ensemble, won the award presented by Czech Radio for contemporary classical music. He currently teaches at New York University Prague.

Antonín Procházka

Antonín Procházka is a percussionist, composer, improviser, foley artist, and teacher at the Music Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He works across genres – in leading orchestras (Czech Philharmonic, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Prague Philharmonia), contemporary music ensembles (BERG, PMP), jazz and indie pop projects (Hele Wāwae, teepee) and improvisation. He performs as a vibraphone soloist, lecturer at music therapy workshops of the Czech Philharmonic, and his sounds can be heard in internationally acclaimed films. His style combines a sense of tradition with an innovative approach. As part of his doctoral studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, he is researching the phenomenon of talking drums in West Africa; in Accra, Ghana, he collaborated with the Ghana Dance Ensemble and the University of Ghana. He puts his experience to good use in his practice and teaching. He founded the Obroni Ensemble, an experimental laboratory combining African drumming with modern jazz and improvisation.

Petr Tichý

Petr Tichý, a Czech jazz double bassist with extensive stage and studio experience, also plays an electroacoustic double bass of his own design, crafted by the violin maker Jiří Petlach. During his studies at the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory and in the jazz department of Prague’s Academy of Performing Arts (under professors Petr Kořínek, Jaromír Honzák, and Jiří Slávík, with additional courses from Miroslav Vitouš), he became connected with the Prague jazz scene, where he continues to be active today. He also takes part—or has taken part—in a number of cross-genre projects (Alvik, Floex, Sylvie Krobová, Marek Novotný Quintet, the NTS Trio (with Michal Nejtek and Štěpán Smetáček), Feng-jun Song and the Puo Trio, Bran, J. Eoin, Paul Novotný Trio, Romanovká Tichý Hrubý, Alieksander Yasinski, Radek Doležal, Diva Baara, Pavol Hammel, Ondřej Škoch, Kateřina Göttlichová, Třaskavá směs by Franta Skála, Petr Nikl, Vladimír Václavek, Jana Vébrová, and others). His own compositional and sonic work is realized primarily through the project HLASkontraBAS, a duo with Ridina Ahmedová, for which they were nominated for the 2016 Anděl Award in the World Music category.

St. Nicolas Church in Boletice

When you enter the church in Boletice, which stands in the middle of the cemetery on a high ground called Olymp, you will feel the atmosphere of tradition and history.

More about venue

Hejl & St. Wenceslas Chorale