Violinist Pavel Eret is now being perceived and accepted by both the concert audiences and the specialized music critics as a representative of the Czech violin performances. Besides his mother tongue Czech, he can speak English, Japanese, German, French and Russian, too.
Having finished his studies at the Prague State Conservatory and Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (being there led by the professors Jaroslav Štětina and Jiří Tomášek) he won the scholarship of the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Wien, studying there, along with others, under professor Michael Frischenschlager. He graduated from the mastership courses and educational stays held under the famous foreign teachers, such as Josef Gingold and Walter Verdehr (USA), Raphaël Oleg (France), Alberto Lysy and Ulrich Lehmann (Switzerland).
In 1982-1983, he attracted much public attention by becoming the to-date sole absolute double winner in the international Kocian Violin Contest and the winner of the radio broadcasting contest, called Concertino Praga, among the violin soloists.
Other victories and appreciations followed from the performance contests. At home, it was for example, the one between the conservatories and the Otakar Ševčík Performers' Contest, as well as the international contest in Greensboro (USA) and in Neerpelt (Belgium), concerning those abroad. At the Prague Spring 1992, Pavel Eret won a special prize for the best interpreting of a contemporary piece. In the same year, he became a winner of the Yamaha Scholarship, which is granted to young musicians.
As for the experience deemed the strongest and almost sacred by Pavel himself, it came, when he was, at the Fritz Kreisler Violin Competition in Vienna (1992), prompted to play at its press conference the Master's piece Caprice Viennois, using the Master's own violin from the workshop of famous Guarneri del Gesu.
Concerning the successes deemed most significant by Pavel Eret himself, the placing he reached within the renown Niccoló Paganini Contest in Genoa (1993), where – facing the competition of a choice of 56 participant throughout the world – he fought his way to the semifinals among the best ten contestants.
In 1994, Pavel recorded one of the most difficult compositions for the solo violin – the piece called the Last Rose of the Summer by Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst – for the Swiss Radio Classic in Bern.
At home, he gave guest performances at the renown musical festivals, such as Prague Autumn, Český Krumlov, Smetana's Litomyšl, Young Prague, Young Podium, and others. Abroad, they were the Mitte Europa, Jewish Music Festival in Amsterdam and Eastern Music Festival 1987 in American Greensboro and Belgian Neerpelt. He gave concerts as a member of the Czech Cultural Peace Mission in the war-damaged cities of Sarajevo, Mostar, and Tuzla at the festival Bosnian Spring 1996.
Pavel has already given his solo co-performances together with most Czech symphonic and chamber orchestras. He was also guesting on the Slovak Chamber Orchestra's performances and on the concerts of the Kosice Philharmonic Orchestra. Beside a series of the concerts in the European countries, he accomplished jointly with the pianist Daniel Wiesner a successful tour around the United States of America in 1997 and together with his sister Věra an extensive tour across Japan a year later.
In 1998-2001, he acted as a soloist and principal concertmaster of the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra (Japan), which paid its visit to the Prague Spring 2004. He likes revisiting Japan every year. He is exercising successfully his knowledge of Japanese while playing for the concert audiences as well as while leading his mastership courses.
Concerning the CDs recorded by him until now, the following choice of them can be reminded here: The Violin under Menorah (from the works by Jewish authors), Four Seasons of the Year by Antonio Vivaldi with the Prague Chamber Orchestra without Conductor and so far the last CD of 2001, where he recorded together with the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra under the conductor Leoš Svárovský The Concerto D minor by Jean Sibelius and the pieces by the Czech contemporary author Petr Janda.
Pavel Eret joined the celebrations of the Year of Czech Music 2004 by performing The Elegia per Jan Palach by Evžen Zámečník, being accompanied by the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice (performed in the Dvořák Hall of the Prague Rudophinum), the Concerto A minor by Antonín Dvořák with the Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Concerto A minor by Josef Slavík with the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra, to which he had composed his own cadenza.
At the end, it is worthy of noting how the specialized critics responded to two of these concerts. Hudební rozhledy (Musical Reviews) No. 4/2004 and music critic Miloš Pokora: "In his solo part, Pavel Eret grasped marvelously the very nature of the capricious world of the Zámečník's Elegia. Listening to his monologs, the audiences in the hall nearly stopped breathing and also all the exciting parts were reverberating with a rare pureness and nobleness."
The music critic Jaroslav Fiala has, apart from others, written in a Pilsen daily dated April 29, 2004: "A soloist in the Slavík Concerto was the fabulous Czech violinist Pavel Eret, who started with much pep, playing then with more and more real virtuosity up to the cadenza performed so beautifully. The guest then reassured the present of his playing qualities even during an incredibly difficult extra piece by the 19th century Vienna violinist H.W. Ernst."
The same music critic has later in a retrospection rerated this performance by the article "Pavel Eret has glowed" in the Pilsen Cultural Reviews from 31-th of May, 2004. In June and July 2004, Pavel Eret played concerts and gave lessons in Japan.
In April 2005, the CD recording of compositions for two violins solo by E. Ysaye, A. Honegger and S.S. Prokofjev, which he recorded with his sister Věra Eretová, was published. He played as a soloist with the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra Ostrava, Teplice Philharmonic Orchestra, Puellarum Pragensis etc. He performed as a soloist at the international festival Prague Spring 2005, where he performed besides others the premiere of Preludio e Andante for Violin and Wind Orchestra by Eleuterio Lovreglio with the Prague Castle Guard and Czech Police Wind Orchestra and conductor Václav Blahunek.
He played a recital at the festival in Tsukude (Japan) in July 2005. His performance in December 2005, when he played the premiere of the concerto grosso La Vivaldiana by E. Lovreglio and Four Seasons of the Year by A. Vivaldi with Ensemble Orchestral des Alpes de la Mer in Nice (France), was commented by the critic and director of the conservatoire in Nice Mr. André Peyregne in the Nice Matin of Dec. 24, 2005: "...The performance of the "Four Seasons of the Year", which we could hear from the Czech violinist Pavel Eret was of the first class grade ...".
The critic and singer Lousianne Philip presents then in the bulletin A.D.A.C.E.L. 2006: "...Pavel Eret offered us the "Four Seasons of the Year" like a glass of champagne on a silver tray! His performance, his eclectic and refined style, introduced us a vivid, calourful Vivaldi, in which a melodic brightness underlined by a noble elegance mingled with a certain slavonic expressiveness...Easiness, virtuosity, melodic shine and concentration, that are the leading qualities of this excellent soloist...".
In February 2006, Pavel Eret made a solo recording of Rondo B major and Adagio E major by W.A. Mozart with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Ondřej Kukal in the Dvořák Hall in Prague for the japanese Octavia Records in the frame of the project The Mozart Therapy. In this project, he introduces himself also in violin sonatas with pianist Miroslav Sekera and as the 1st violinist of the Czech Philharmonic Quartet.
In April 2006, he performed with his sister Věra recitals of an unique program for two violins without accompaniment, which was finished by a subscription concert of the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK in Prague. In June, he continued recording in frame of the project The Mozart Therapy. He recorded as a soloist movements of the famous violin concertos by Mozart G major, D major and A major with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Hideaki Muto. He recorded also movements from violin sonatas and string quartets.
On the occasion of 100 years after the death of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg next year 2007, Pavel Eret prepares recital performances of the whole of three Violin Sonatas by Grieg with pianist Suzanna Hlinka in Prague (the Prague Spring Festival subscription series) and in Norway (the Muzeum of E. Grieg in Bergen and others).
www.paveleret.com
