EVENING TALK

Eva Hudečková 

She studied acting at the Theater Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts and pursued her acting career until 1984. She has played a number of prominent roles in theater, television, and film, and has won several prestigious awards, such as the Czechoslovak Film Award for her title role as Tereza in the film Čas naděje a lásky (Time of Hope and Love) and the Czech Dubbing Annual Award. Since the mid-1980s, she has devoted herself to writing. In 1992, she presented her debut novel Bezhlavá kobyla (The Headless Mare), which was met with enthusiastic response and favor from readers and professional critics alike. It is a fascinating picture of the author's childhood in a family persecuted by a totalitarian regime, when "clouds buried the sun and people did not know what to do with their sins and their consciences." The following year saw the publication of Bratříček Golem (Little Brother Golem), a unique and original take on an old Prague legend, a captivating story set in the mid-19th century in the streets of the Prague ghetto. Czech Radio adapted it into a three-part radio play. The novel O ztracené lásce (Of Lost Love) is a dramatic portrayal of the fate of an unloved girl, rejected by her own parents, wandering as an abandoned being in search of true values. It was adapted into a television series. Three mysterious stories, V moci kouzel (In the Power of Magic), are about the failure of a good man, led to the brink of destruction. Sedmihlásek (The Seven-Voiced One) is about two children who right the wrongs of a treacherous monster, the destroyer of music, without which the world would become a wasteland of heartless souls. The book, which became the source of many years of activities by the Hudečeks in support of musically gifted children, was dedicated to her husband, violin virtuoso Václav Hudeček, on his birthday. Her sixth book, Tajemství pražského šotka (The Secret of the Prague Goblin), is a mystical novel set in the second half of the 19th century and, at the same time, a timeless allegorical story full of fantasy, images, and metaphors, rendered in rich poetic language. In the author's latest work, entitled Veselice (The Feast), the heroes are at the mercy of a crazy game of life and death.

Václav Hudeček

began his journey among the Czech and international performing elite in the 1960s. As a fifteen-year-old, he performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London in 1967, where David Oistrach heard him and offered him pedagogical assistance. From 1970 until Oistrach's death in 1974, Hudeček was Oistrach's pupil, while also completing his studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in Václav Snítil's class. Throughout his career, he has performed on the world's most prestigious stages (Carnegie Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Suntory Hall, Osaka Festival Hall, Sydney Opera House) with renowned international orchestras (Berliner Philharmoniker, Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, NHK Philharmonic Orchestra, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Moscow State Philharmonic Orchestra, and others) and at world festivals (Osaka, Salzburg, Istanbul, Perth, Helsinki). He still professes his allegiance to the legacy of David Oistrakh and the Russian violin school. Hudeček's playing combines technical mastery with a rich emotional experience that he is able to convey to listeners of all ages. His recordings have been awarded gold and platinum discs several times. His repertoire includes works from the Baroque to the 20th century, including compositions by contemporary Czech authors. He systematically supports the next generation of Czech performers by organizing annual summer violin courses in Luhačovice, whose best participants he presents during his traditional Christmas tours or at the Music Festival, which he organizes at the Church of St. Simon and Jude in Prague. Václav Hudeček is a recipient of the state award For Merit to the State in the Field of Culture and Art and the Artis Bohemiae Amicis award, he has received the Silver Medal of the City of Prague and has been named an honorary citizen of Prague 2. In 2015, he became the first Czech in history to receive the prestigious Italian honor of Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy, "Cavaliere dell'Ordine della Stella d'Italia."