PYP Spotlight: Tomáš Svoboda

Posted on October 28, 2016

Portland Youth Philharmonic will premiere Tomáš Svoboda‘s Symphony No. 2 at its Fall Concert on Saturday, November 12, 2016.

Tomáš Svoboda was born in December 6, 1939 in Paris, France. In Czech culture it is commonly said that “every Czech is a musician.” Tomáš entered the Prague Music Conservatory in 1953 at the age of 14, too young to be enrolled into composing, so he started in percussion class. In 1957, at age 18, his Symphony No. 1 was premiered by the FOK Prague Symphony conducted by Václav Smetáček. After graduating in composition, piano and percussion he entered the Prague Academy of Music in 1962, under the tutelage of Miloslav Kabelac. In the early 1960s, while performing with a Czech folk music group, he met Jana Demartini. She danced and sang and Tomáš played piano and percussion for the group which performed traditional Czech folk music. They dated for one year and Tomáš wrote his Second Symphony, dedicated to Jana, in 1963.

Although the composition was scheduled to be performed in Prague in 1964 or 65, Karel Ancerl conducting the Czech Philharmonic, it did not happen because the Svoboda Family left Czechoslovakia surreptitiously in 1964.

When the Svobodas left the country, the premiere was promptly cancelled. Czechoslovakia was under a totalitarian regime. The Communists at the helm guarded their power with all their might and would allow any deviations. It was a big embarrassment to them that Tomáš’ father, who was a well-known scientist at the Prague Academy of Science, had fled the country. Karel Ancerl also moved shortly thereafter and settled in Toronto. The Svobodas eventually settled in USA, in Phoenix, Arizona. About a year later Jana was able to join them. She and Tomáš were married almost immediately, on October 9, 1965. The elder Svobodas had already relocated to Los Angeles, and the young couple moved there as well, so that Tomáš could obtain some credentials to become a teacher.

His musical training had been very good, but his degrees were not recognized in the U.S. In California he auditioned and was accepted on the strength of his piano playing as a student at University of Southern California, working with Ingolf Dahl and Halsey Stevens. He graduated and began teaching in 1969. In 1970, he was offered a temporary position as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Portland State University. After a few years he was offered a permanent position and he remained affiliated with that institution for 28 years, retiring as Professor Emeritus in 2002.  While on the faculty at PSU he performed on piano regularly and formed Trio Spektrum, with Stan Stanford, clarinet and Marilyn Shotola, flute.

10-17-2016 - Mr. Svoboda and PYP Musical Director David Hattner at rehearsal

In 1982, Tomáš Svoboda conducted the Portland Youth Philharmonic for its spring concert while Maestro Avshalomov was on sabbatical. Tomáš Svoboda has been a prolific composer writing many new works for local Northwest ensembles. In December 2012, Tomáš suffered a devastating stroke, so his musical output abruptly ended. However, his large body of music is being performed all over the world.  In 2015, Camerata PYP (chamber orchestra) premiered Svoboda’s Folk Concertino for Seven Instruments, Op. 82 (1977) in a performance at Portland State University in conjunction with Chamber Music Northwest’s Winter Festival. The November 2016 premiere of Svoboda’s Second Symphony has involved extracting the parts from the score, because the piece was never prepared for full orchestra. PYP is working directly with Mr. and Mrs. Svoboda to ensure that the premiere performance meets their expectations. They are both very excited to hear PYP’s performance of this symphony which takes them back to the years before they were married, more than 50 years ago.