Dalibor Brazda
Encyclopedia
Czech people
Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...
music composer, arranger, and conductor.
Born in Fryšták
Fryšták
Fryšták is a town in Zlín Region of Czech Republic. It lies between cities Zlín and Holešov, on the Fryštácký stream, under the Hostýnsko-vsetínská hornatina, on the interface between Moravian Wallachia and Haná.-History:...
, Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
, he studied at the conservatory in Brno
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
(JAMU) and the Academy of Music in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
(AMU). Trained in bassoon, he played in two orchestras simultaneously: Czech Chamber Orchestra and National Theatre of Prague, and later in the Czech Philharmonic and the Filmorchestra-Concert (FOK). As a student of the famous conductor Rafael Kubelik
Rafael Kubelík
Rafael Jeroným Kubelík was a Czech conductor and composer.-Early life:Kubelík was born in Býchory, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary, today's Czech Republic. He was the sixth child of the Bohemian violinist Jan Kubelík, whom the younger Kubelík described as "a kind of god to me." His mother was a Hungarian...
he soon started his career as conductor at Karlin Theatre Prague where he remained for 20 years. Brazda achieved great success as guest-conductor for Every Man Opera in New York with Porgy and Bess.
He became prominent in the 1950s and 1960s in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
as an accomplished arranger for Supraphon
Supraphon
Supraphon Music Publishing is a Czech record label, it is oriented mainly towards publishing classical music, with an emphasis on Czech and Slovak composers.- History :...
. His lush string arrangements for popular artists including British singer Gery Scott
Gery Scott
Gery Scott was a jazz and cabaret entertainer and teacher, whose performing career spanned 26 countries and over 60 years...
, German pianist Igo Fischer and Czech singer Karel Gott
Karel Gott
Karel Gott is a Czech Schlager singer, and an amateur painter. He is considered as the most successful male singer in former Czechoslovakia and currently in the Czech Republic; he has being voted the Most Favorite Male Singer in the annual national pool Český slavík in total thirty-six times...
are highly regarded. His orchestra later became known as Dalibor Brazda Magic Strings.
Brazda also conducted the German cast recording of Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...
in the Mid 1960s (released as Anatevka on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, Teldec and Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
) with the Grosses Musical-Orchester und Chor des Operettenhauses Hamburg, for which he won a Gold Record Award. Instead of returning to Prague at the end of the Anatevka-Performances in Hamburg, he emigrated to Dietikon
Dietikon
Dietikon is the fifth biggest city of the canton of Zürich in Switzerland, after Zürich, Winterthur, Uster and Dübendorf. It is the capital of the same-named district of Dietikon and part of the Zürich metropolitan area.- Geography :...
(Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, near Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
), where he stayed till his death in 2005. In 1985 he became Swiss.
In 2001 he was honoured with the first Cultural Award of Dietikon for his work in musical education of young people and for his musical direction for 25 years of a youth wind-orchestra (Stadtjugendmusik Dietikon) and the Stadtmusik Dietikon, a wind orchestra also, for 15 years.
Till his death he worked as arranger for several orchestras (DRS Big Band, Ambros Seelos, Hugo Strasser, Original Egerländer Musikanten and Trio Festivo).
On 27 May 2006, the Stadtmusik Dietikon in Switzerland held a concert entitled The Best Of Dalibor Brazda as a tribute to his musical greatness.