Vladimír Válek decorated by the President
At a gala evening in the Vladislav Hall to mark the 92nd anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia, 22 prominent Czechs were decorated by Václav Klaus. They included the Chief Conductor of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vladimír Válek, who was awarded the Medal of Merit by the Czech President.
Medals of Merits were also awarded to the actress Hana Maciuchová, the General Director of the National Gallery Milan Knížák, the film critic Eva Zaoralová, the poet Karel Šiktanc and the ice hockey player Jaromír Jágr, and from the world of Czech science the immunologist Karel Raška, the children’s cardiologist Milan Šimánek and the physical chemistry researcher Blanka Wichterlová.
Vladimír Válek (born on 2th September 1935) started his career as conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra (1975-1987). In 1985 he was offered the post of Chief Conductor of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and he continues to hold this position to this day. He was also the conductor of the Czech Philharmonic for ten years from 1996. He was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Osaka Symphoniker orchestra from the 2002/03 season onwards, and during the years 2004-2007 he headed the Slovak Philharmonic as its Chief Conductor.
He has performed in many world cities with the above-mentioned orchestras and regularly appears at various international music festivals. In addition to his permanent posts, Vladimír Válek also appears as guest conductor with various symphony orchestras, for example, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, MDR Orchestra Leipzig, Tonkünstler and ORF, both in Vienna, the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, the Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra and the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra.
Vladimír Válek’s discography comprises over one hundred titles for Pony Canyon, Harmonia Mundi, Supraphon and Radioservis. His recording of the Ervin Schulhoff piano concertos with soloist Jan Simon and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra was awarded the international music reviewers’ prize at the MIDEM Classic in Cannes in 1996 (Cannes Classical Award). One of the most distinctive recording projects of recent times is the complete symphonies of Antonín Dvořák, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Bohuslav Martinů, recorded by the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and its Chief Conductor. The recordings were published by Supraphon.
