Janka Rychlá

Conductor / Leader

Janka Rychlá studied the piano at the Zilina Conservatory (1974 – 1980, Eva Kudjová) and conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts Bratislava (VSMU), (1980 – 1985, Peter Hradil). During her studies she participated in the educational programme in Paris for one term (1983 – 1984) where she studied polyphonic music under Philipp Caillard and completed a conducting course under Eric Ericson, a world-famous choirmaster. After graduating from VSMU she worked as a choirmaster and artistic director of the Children’s and Youth Choir of the Slovak Radio in Bratislava (1984 – 2003). With this ensemble she helped popularize Slovak culture at concerts, festivals and competitions at home and abroad as well (France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Austria, Italy). At the same time, she worked as a répétiteur (1985 – 1986) and choirmaster (1989 – 1990) of the Slovak Philharmonic Choir and she cooperated with choral ensembles in Slovakia and abroad (Chorus Salvatoris, Tempus Choir). She participated in the conducting courses in France. In July 2003 and 2006 she worked as a choirmaster in the European Academy of Choral Singing in Pyrenees, France. Since 2004 she has been a conductor and artistic director of Pressburg Singers, a choir ensemble with which she regularly appears at concerts, festivals and competitions at home and abroad (Croatia, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Czech Republic). She is a member of the jury at the International Choir Festival in Jihlava and represents Slovakia as a chairman in the International Young Choir Festival Summa Cum Laude. In 2012 she was the artistic director of the Prievidza Sings International Choir Festival (Prievidza spieva). In 2013 she studied the world premiere of Oasis, an opera by Tsippi Fleischer in English and premiere after the 200 years – MISSA SANCTAE CAECILIAE in C by Anton Zimmermann with cooperation of the orchestra Musica Aeterna (conductor Peter Zajíček). She is also pedagogically engaged. Since 2011 she has been working at the Department of Puppetry of the VSMU’s Theatre Faculty – vocal technique and choral singing. Since 2008 she has also cooperated with the Slovak National Opera. She musically participated with choir Pressburg Singers in the play of Boris Godunov by Mussorgsky (2008), The Miracle of our Lady by Bohuslav Martinú (2009) and Kominárik (Chimney Sweeper) (2010), a children’s opera by Benjamin Britten, in Puccini´s Bohéme (2014), in Tchaikovsky´s Pique Dame and Wolf-Ferrari´s Jewels of Madonna (2015).