Irena Chřibková

Irena Chribková has been the organist at St. James´ Basilica in Prague since 1991. She studied organ at the Kroměříž Conservatoire under Karel Pokora, at the Academy of Arts in Prague under Prof. Milan Šlechta (1980-1986) and under Susanne Landale in France (1985). Her success at numerous interpretation competitions started her concert career. She has toured extensively as a concert artist, appearing in the majority of European countries, as well as in Japan, Russia, Israel and the USA. She has cooperated with the outstanding instrumentalists and singers at chamber and choir concerts. She has juried many international competitions. She has led summer master classes of Czech and French music in Ljubljana, Slovenia several times.

   Ms Chřibková has produced a number of CDs presenting Czech and French organ music, e.g. Music of Paris Churches and Cathedrals (Vierne, Widor, Bonnet, Boellmann, Messiaen, Alain), Organists and Composers at St. James´ (Černohorský, Zach, Seger, Ropek, Wiedermann, Eben), a CD with music of B. A. Wiedermann, a CD-live – St. James Organ (Franck, Eben: Landscapes of Patmos). She has made recordings for Czech, Belgian, French and Polish radio and Czech television. Ms Chřibková is a much sought-after interpreter of the 20th organ music, contemporary music and French organ literature.

   Her concert programmes have always unique arrangement, the music is colourfully registered and the performances are extremely powerful. She has devoted special interest to music of Petr Eben. She has to her credit the Czech premieres of ´Four Biblical Dances for organ and two dancers´ (1996), and ´The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart´ for organ and speaker (2004). She has contributed to the book ´A Tribute to P. Eben´ which was published in England by Dvořák Society at the occasion of Eben´s 70th birthday.

   Between 1988 and 1994 she was a teacher at the P. J. Vejvanovský Conservatoire in Kroměříž, currently she is active as a teacher in Prague. In 1996 she initiated the International Organ Festival at St. James´ Basilica, and other concert cycles of sacred music.

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