"Jakub Metelka has proven one of the most interesting piano composers to emerge in recent years, his educational music offering genuinely useful content embedded in attractive pieces which are enjoyable to play, and notably concise."
- ANDREW EALES -
ABOUT
Czech pianist, teacher and composer, born in 1986 in Czechoslovakia. From the age of six he has been playing the piano. At the age of fifteen he started to study The Prague Conservatoire under direction of František Maxián.
In 2002 he received an award as an absolute winner of the 37th international music competition Concertino Praga.
In years of 2007 - 2014 he had been teaching piano at the music schools in Prague. Since 2015, he has been focused mainly on his own piano music pieces. In the same year he created two piano works. “Illusions – 10 piano pieces” and “Three studies for piano”. In 2016 he completed a set of thirty piano miniatures named “Children´s Piano Book” which was published in March 2019 as "Modern Piano Studies" by Bärenreiter publishing house.
In 2017 he wrote album of 10 piano exercises named "Little Virtuoso", which was published in extended edition with 15 pieces in March 2021.
In September 2023 Bärenreiter published Metelka's very new piano album "The Secret Garden".
Currently he is teaching at music school in Žirovnice, Czech Republic.
Semifinalist of:
2nd International Composition Competition
"Maurice Ravel" 2016
Finalist of:
Film Music Composition Competition 2016
3rd Prize:
4th International Composition Competition
"Artistes en Herbe"
Luxembourg 2017
Finalist of:
The 20th International Edvard Grieg Competition for Composers 2017
Bronze Medal Winner:
Global Music Awards 2017
Nominee:
Hollywood Songwriting Contest 2017
Finalist of:
The Art of Piano Education Awards 2024
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.
