Karel Malimánek

Biography

“I always wanted to be a part of the Czech Philharmonic.”

Karel Malimánek has been playing the tuba in the Czech Philharmonic since 1993. His path as a musician was shaped naturally by his family background—his father and grandfather were folk musicians, and they exposed the boy to music in more ways than just by performing at local folk festivals. It was Karel Malimánek’s father who got him to attend a music school, and when discussion began about picking an instrument, his choice was clear: “The tuba, of course!” It was by his own choice, however, that Malimánek entered the conservatoire, where he studied under Václav Hoza. He was motivated by a fondness for chamber music that has stayed with him to this day. Under Václav Hoza’s guidance, he later graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts, where he enrolled at the age of 37 because university-level tuba studies were not available until then.

By that time, he had already been playing in the Czech Philharmonic for several years, ending up there after getting experience in the Film Symphony Orchestra under the baton of František Belfín, in the opera orchestra of the National Theatre, and in the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. “I always wanted to be a part of the Czech Philharmonic”, he says, recalling his years at the conservatoire when they were supposed to attend cultural events. “But if we didn’t go to Czech Philharmonic concerts, that wasn’t good,” he says with a laugh. His strongest memories from those days include making the critically acclaimed recording of Strauss’s Alpine Symphony as well as Mahler’s Ninth Symphony with Václav Neumann, which took place just two days before the famed conductor’s death. “The symphony’s slow conclusion sounds all the sadder and all the more evocative to me”, he adds.

Besides orchestral playing, Karel Malimánek also collaborates with such chamber ensembles and jazz groups as the Czech Philharmonic Jazz Band or the Václav Kozel Big Band. Along these lines, he especially recalls a performance with Wynton Marsalis. At present, he is also teaching at the Prague Conservatoire and the Academy of Performing Arts, and he takes part in organising tuba masterclasses held in Kaliště, Gustav Mahler’s birthplace.

In his free time, he likes to listen to jazz, and he goes on hikes in the mountains, ideally in Austria, followed by good refreshments.