November 29, 2017
The NDSU Wind Symphony will perform “A Czech Festival” concert on Dec. 3, featuring guest artist conductor Col. Václav Blahunek from the Prague Castle Guard and Czech Symphonic Police Band. The concert is at NDSU Festival Concert Hall at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday and will showcase works by Czech composers.
Col. Václav Blahunek, Ph.D., has been conductor of the Prague Castle Guard and Czech Police Symphonic Band since 1999, and was appointed its director and chief conductor in 2009. Born in 1971 in Olomouc, Czech Republic, he studied clarinet and conducting at the Prague Academy, where his teachers included Radomil Eliska and Frantisek Vajnar on clarinet, and the renowned Czech conductor Jiri Belohlavek and Nicolas Parquet in conducting. Col. Blahunek has conducted bands and orchestras internationally, including the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic of Zlin, and the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra of Japan. He has appeared as guest conductor at the Prague State Opera and the Usti nad Labem Theatre. In 2010, he finished his doctoral studies at the Prague Academy, focusing on the theory of interpretation, with special emphasis on conducting the symphonic repertoire for wind orchestras.
Under the direction of Dr. Warren Olfert, The NDSU Wind Symphony is part of a tradition of band excellence at North Dakota State University that spans more than 100 years. Included in that tradition is a legacy of performances around the nation through tours and conferences and the contribution of new music to the band world through commissions and consortiums. The Wind Symphony has worked with composers such as David Maslanka and Dana Wilson and has performed with internationally renowned soloists Eugene Rousseau and Los Angeles Philharmonic Principal Trumpet Thomas Hooten.