JAN MIKUŠEK - BIOGRAPHY

Born in Valašské Meziříčí, Jan Mikušek studied cimbalom and conducting at the Brno conservatoire in Evžen Holiš’s class. He continued studying conducting at the Academy of Music in Prague with František Vajnar. During his studies he also began devoting to singing. He attended master-classes given by Mario van Altena. He has performed early music with many ensembles (Capella Regia Praha, Musica Florea, Ritornello, Societas Incognitorum) and has also collaborated with the flautist Jiří Stivín and Ensemble Damian (Tomáš Hanzlík‘s and Vít Zouhar’s operas). His repertoire includes oratorios, masses and cantatas by J. S. Bach, G. F. Händel, G. Carissimi, G. B. Pergolesi, A. Vivaldi, A. Draghi and J. H. Wiederer. In the male quartet Affetto he has extended his range to encompass contemporary and experimental music, too (M. Štědroň, M. Košut, J. Meisl, A. Pärt, etc.).He has already collaborated with the National Theatre on the production of Martin Smolka’s opera Nagano (2004), Tomáš Hanzlík’s opera Lacrimae Alexandre Magni (2007), on the production of the opera-proces Tomorrow There Will Be... (2008), and he also created the role of Dargelos – Agathe in Philip Glass’ opera Les Enfants Terribles (2011) and the role of Fate Ranger in Mysliveček's L'Olimpiade (2013). Jan Mikušek is the co-founder of the International Cimbalom Festival in Valašské Meziříčí. As an active player of this instrument, he has premiered a number of compositions for cimbalom (Trifolium by Antonín Tučapský, Mazel Tow by Vladimír Wimmer, Psalms by Svatopluk Havelka, Concerto for cimbalom and orchestra by Jan Meisl).