Biography
Professor of cello, chamber music, conductor of the Academy Strings and University Symphony Orchestras and Head of the String Department at the University of Alberta, Canada, cellist Tanya Prochazka (nee Hunt) is a soloist, chamber musician, conductor, freelance player and teacher.
Born in Melbourne, Australia, Ms Prochazka began her cello studies with Marianne Maxwell and Henri Touzeau, both eminent Australian cello teachers. She pursued her studies at the Paris Conservatoire with Andre Navarra and in Bloomington, Indiana with Janos Starker. Her early professional activities took her to Vienna, Austria. From Vienna, as cellist with Ensemble I, she performed throughout Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Australia. Subsequently, as a resident of London, England, she performed throughout Britain as soloist and chamber musician and regularly for the BBC in recitals and chamber music concerts.
Ms Prochazka gathered a number of prizes at prestigious competitions: Australian Broadcasting Commission Concerto Competition, Cassado Competition in Florence, Italy, International Tribune in Czechoslovakia, semi-finalist at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Suggia Prize in London.
Since arriving in Edmonton, Canada in 1986, Ms Prochazka has become one of Canada’s leading cellists. Her repertoire ranges from the Baroque period through to the present day. She broadcasts frequently on CBC radio and regularly collaborates nationally and internationally with such artists as Stéphane Lemelin, Jacques Israelievitch, Erika Raum, Janet Scott Hoyt, Jacques Després and Brachi Tilles. Ms Prochazka is a founding member of Ménage à Trio, with Stéphane Lemelin and Martin Riseley.
In March, 2004 Tanya performed the world premiere of the Cello Concerto, “La Rosa Enflorece,” especially composed for her by Alfred Fisher with the Kingston Symphony Orchestra, with conductor Glen Fast. In October 2004 she joined violist Rivka Golani in another world premiere performance of Malcolm’s Forsyth’s new Double Concerto for Viola, Cello and Orchestra, with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. She also performed the Brahms Double Concerto with Israeli violinist Daniel Kossov in Melbourne, Australia, September, 2004. Highlights of the last season were her performances of all of Bach’s Suites for solo cello, “Bach By Candlelight” and string quartets in the side canyons of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. During her Sabbatical year 2005 to 2006 Tanya will be performing as cellist and conductor in England, France, Czech Republic, Cuba, USA and Australia.
Ms Prochazka is highly regarded as a devoted teacher. She taught at the Royal Academy of Music and at the Guildhall School of Music in London. In July 1998 she was appointed Professor of Cello, Strings, and Chamber Music at the University of Alberta. She is also Conductor of the University Symphony Orchestra and the Academy Strings Orchestra. In February 2002 Prochazka led the Academy Strings Orchestra on a fabulous concert and educational tour of Cuba, which included performances in Cienfuegos, Santa Clara and Havana. She directed a triumphant tour of Alberta with the Academy Strings in combination with the premier student string ensemble, Musica Eterna, from Havana, Cuba for March 2005.
In March 2003, Tanya made her opera conducting debut with 4 performances of Mozart’s Magic Flute with the USO and the Music Department’s Opera Workshop program, and conducted Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Menotti’s Old Maid and the Thief in January 2005, again with the USO and the Music Department’s Opera Workshop program.
Ms Prochazka leads cello master classes and string workshops wherever her concerts take her. This includes classes in Chicago, Melbourne, Winnipeg, Regina, Ottawa and Freiburg, Germany. In June 2002 Ms Prochazka was Resident Artist for the String Program at the Australian National Academy of Music, in Melbourne. She is also in demand as a competition jury member and string festival adjudicator.
Her world premiere recording of the New Goldberg Variations, with pianist Jacques Després, of variations composed by leading American composers Frazelle, Rouse, Lieberson, Corigliano, Schickele and Danielpour on the Goldberg Aria theme by Bach has met with resounding critical success. This adds to her growing discography of CDs: American Cello Masterpieces, Poulenc, Fauré and Saint Saëns, Landsmål, Canadian Solo Cello Works by Fisher and Ho, and The Passionate Englishman. Also released this year is Bohemian Woods, music by Dvořák, Janáček and Martinů, with pianist Milton Schlosser. In press are 2 new CD recordings: Dvořák Cello Concerto with the University Symphony Orchestra, and Twentieth Century Violin and Cello Works with violinist Elizabeth McHan.
