Karel Šimek
Biography
The beginnings of his work with light date back to the year 2010 when he got a job as a lighting technician at the National Theatre in Brno. In 2013 he moved from Brno to Prague where he started working as a leader of the lighting technicians at the Švanda’s Theatre in Smíchov. Since 2015 he has been employed as a freelance light designer, programmer, technician and also as a technical and touring producer for independent ensembles and festivals. As a light designer he has been in a long-term cooperation with Radim Vizváry. They cooperated on the award-winning production The Solo but their cooperation runs much deeper than that. For instance, they also cooperated on the production of Love for Three Oranges by Sergei Prokofiev for the Opera of the National Theatre where he got the opportunity to work together with Boris Kudlička.
For several years, he has been working as a light designer with Daniel Špinar, the artistic leader of the National Theatre Drama Ensemble. His work experience includes such ensembles as Lenka Vagnerová & Company, Spitfire Company, Prague Chamber Ballet, Tantehorse, Dekkadancers, and also with Jaro Viňarský, Andrej Petrovič and last but not least long-term cooperation with Martin Talaga whose SOMA performance was awarded the prize for the best performance at the Czech Dance Platform festival in 2018. His professional steps also led him to dramatic, opera and ballet companies of all three national theatres in the Czech Republic. Since 2014 he has been working as a stage manager and technical producer for the international mime festival Mime Fest and since 2019, he has been a member of the Finnish MimoArt Company where he works as a light designer and touring manager. Through his cooperation with all the above-mentioned artists and ensembles he has had frequent opportunity to present his work at stages all over the world.