About me
I am a Czech pianist, teacher, and composer, born in 1986 in what was then Czechoslovakia. My journey with the piano began at the age of six, and by fifteen, I was studying at The Prague Conservatoire under the direction of František Maxián.
In 2002, I had the honor of winning first prize as the absolute winner of the 37th International Music Competition Concertino Praga.
From 2007 to 2014, I taught piano at music schools in Prague, sharing my passion for music with students of all levels. Since 2015, I have been focusing primarily on composing my own piano music. That same year, I created two piano works: Illusions – 10 Piano Pieces and Three Studies for Piano. In 2016, I completed a collection of thirty piano miniatures titled Children’s Piano Book, which was later published in March 2019 as Modern Piano Studies by Bärenreiter publishing. In 2017, I wrote an album of ten piano exercises called Little Virtuoso, which was published in an extended edition with fifteen pieces in March 2021.
Most recently, in September 2023, Bärenreiter published my latest piano album, The Secret Garden.
Currently, I teach at a music school in Žirovnice, Czech Republic, where I continue to share my love for piano and composition with my students.
Awards and Achievements
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Winner:
The Art of Piano Education Awards, 2024
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Bronze Medal Winner:
Global Music Awards, 2017
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Finalist:
The 20th International Edvard Grieg Competition for Composers, 2017
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3rd Prize:
4th International Composition Competition "Artistes en Herbe," Luxembourg, 2017
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Semifinalist:
2nd International Composition Competition "Maurice Ravel," 2016
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Finalist:
Film Music Composition Competition, 2016
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Nominee:
Hollywood Songwriting Contest, 2017
Recent Publications
The Secret Garden
Modern Piano Nocturnes
by Jakub METELKA
The album “The Secret Garden” by Jakub Metelka (b. 1986) contains fifteen recital pieces in simple song form, thus tying in with his successful, technically less demanding piano cycle “Little Virtuoso” (BA11569). The individual compositions in the collection are characterized by Metelka’s unmistakable, tonally anchored melodic style, enriched with many unusual harmonies and colours, which here underlines the slightly melancholic and mysterious character of these nocturnal pieces. The playful illustrations by Andrea Tachezy reflect these moods in an imaginative and charming way.
Although it is not really a predetermined cycle, the fifteen atmospheric character pieces, with their programmatic titles and their arrangement tell a kind of fairy tale that culminates in the magical final composition “The Secret Garden”.
THE SECRET GARDEN
Little Virtuoso
15 Pieces for Piano
by Jakub METELKA
This new piano album contains 15 recital pieces – short, witty, characteristic compositions with flawless melodic, harmonic and pianistic workmanship. It allows little virtuosos not only to train their technical skills (from fairly easy to moderately difficult), but also to sharpen their grasp of the pieces’ moods and to stretch their musical imagination. Accompanying the edition are attractive illustrations by Andrea Tachezy.
The album provides an ideal complement to the composer’s internationally successful “Modern Piano Studies".
The album Little Virtuoso received a Bronze Medal at the Global Music Awards in 2017.
Modern Piano Studies
30 Pieces for Piano
by Jakub METELKA
This album of thirty short pieces is unique both in the diversity of keys it uses (the complete range of keys is utilised) and in its melodic accessibility and "modern" sound. Every study has its own mood or even story. When you play through all of the studies, you will have an excellent understanding of all the major and minor keys and will have also improved your music-reading ability. Every study deals with a specific technical problem - you will practise melodic ornaments, glissandos, third and sixth progressions, arpeggios and much more.
This album was awarded the Third Prize in the Composer competition "Artistes en herbe" 2017 in Luxembourg.
