Biography
Robert Hugo has been considered a specialist in Czech 17th century music for a number of years. He combines interpretative mastery (as a soloist and conductor) with profound theoretical knowledge, as well as twenty years’ practical experience with reconstructing old autographs, which has resulted in a number of modern premieres of old masters’ compositions.
He began devoting to music professionally after graduating from the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Charles University in Prague. At the Music Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague he studied music theory and organ (with Professors Milan Šlechta and Jaroslav Tůma). In addition, he studied cembalo with Helmut Franke and John Toll. He considers his most important teachers and mentors in early music Marcin Szczycinski, the artistic director of the ensemble Bornus Consort Warszawa, and Dr. Holger Eichhorn, founder and artistic director of Musicalische Compagney Berlin.
Since 1991 Robert Hugo has been an organist at the University Church of the Most Holy Saviour in Prague’s Klementinum. He has regularly taught at the early music summer school organised by the Czech Music Society in Valtice. He has given lectures in music-theory subjects at the University for Spiritual Music in Görlitz.
He has collaborated with a host of internationally renowned ensembles, among them: Musicalische Compagney Berlin, Pro Cantione Antiqua London, Bornus Consort Warszawa, and soloists, including Magdalena Kožená, Simon Standage and Jiří Stivín. He worked as a conductor at the Janáček Theatre in Brno. As a soloist, he has prevailingly played historic organ and keyboards of the South German region. He has performed at concerts throughout Europe, mainly in the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland.
Robert Hugo is known for his research work in the field of Czech and South German Baroque music. He has given lectures and published papers on this theme. This activity has culminated in a host of discoveries and modern premieres of works by Baroque masters such as J. D. Zelenka, G. Carissimi and A. Michna of Otradovice.
Update: April 2007