Press quotes:
„Czech guitarist Petr Zelenka brings an edgy warmth to jazz that isn't heard too often these days“. (All About Jazz)
„Zelenka´s CD is another promising flash on the contemporary paths of our jazz“. (MF Dnes, CZ)
„There is one thing that unifies the whole CD: a supreme lyricism, an impressionistic attempt to captivate the musical momentum, but not to do it too violently so that the sacred instant does not break up into pieces“. (iDNES, CZ)
Projekt Z + Rodrigo Parejo tour
Projekt Z with special guest Rodrigo Parejo finished a tour in Czech
Republic and Slovakia. Another tour with Parejo is planned for the 2nd half of
September. 
Zelenka-Parejo-Barker trio
From 9th till 15th of April, Petr Zelenka participated at a series of concerts
with Zelenka-Parejo-Barker trio at different venues and festivals in Amsterdam,
Rotterdam and The Hague. The flute player Rodrigo Parejo will join the czech
Projekt Z for a tour in June.
Petr Zelenka plays with Prague Modern
Petr Zelenka performed a brand new composition from the czech
composer Frantisek Chaloupka with Prague Modern, an ensemble specialized in
contemporary music. This was his second experience in this field. In spring
2009 he performed with Prague Modern Jonathan Harvey´s composition
„Jubilus“ under the direction of Michel Swierczewski.
New trio: Projekt Z
Petr Zelenka founded a new trio. His bandmates are two outstanding musicians
living in Prague who have been collaborating with him since a couple of years
ago: the saxophonist Marcel Bárta and the drummer Daniel Šoltis.
This band originally came into existence by chance. No
bass-player could do a gig so it was decided to play as a bass-less trio.
Preparing the repertoire for the gig became a lot of fun and the unusual
instrumental setting actually facilitated the creative processes.
Projekt Z plays original music inspired by various sources that span from
free-jazz to punk to classical. It could be described as experimental jazz as
opposed to traditional jazz or main-stream. Unusual preparations and sounds
effects make natural part of the group sound.
You can hear the band in Prague jazz clubs since November 2009. In June,
Projekt Z will invite special guest, flute player Rodrigo Parejo
(Spain/Netherlands) and will play 7 concerts with him in the Czech Republic and
Slovakia. More information in the sections „Concerts“ and
„Press Kit“.
Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music
In May, Petr will participate at the Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music held in Banff, Canada. The artistic director is the trumpet-player Dave Douglas and the members of the faculty are e.g.: Joshua Redman, Tony Malaby, David Gilmore, Clarence Penn, Matt Penman, Don Byron and other great musicians
a tour with Ondřej Pivec, Joel Frahm, Tomáš Hobzek
Petr will join the band of Ondřej Pivec and Tomáš Hobzek with the great american saxophone player Joel Frahm. They will play together 4 concerts in Czech Republic. Details in the Concerts section
New CD - samples, reviews, etc.
You can finally listen to samples from the new CD „Memory Flash“ in the section Audio and read reviews on it in the section Press Kit. There you can also download the press release. The CD was released on september 1st on the label Animal Music (www.animalmusic.eu). The CD is available worldwide on CD BABY (www.cdbaby.com/cd/petrzelenka) and is distributed in the Czech and Slovak Republics exclusively by Sony BMG Music Entertainment. It can also be ordered in the Animal Music e-shop (www.animalmusic.eu/e-shop)
Jazz in Rudolfinum
a very special three-hour concert called JAZZ IN
RUDOLFINUM will take place on Wednesday, October 8, 2008 in Dvorak’s Hall of
Prague’s Rudolfinum. This concert will bring together extraordinary jazz
musicians from Czech Republic, Slovakia, United States, Poland, Sweden – and
Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, best of Czech philharmonics, established in
1995 by conductor Jiří Bělohlávek. The concert’s climax is a program
called UMIERA PIEKNO by the Polish singer AGA ZARYAN, famous not only in Poland,
but throughout the Europe and the USA. UMIERA PIEKNO contains exceptional pieces
of the piano player MICHAL TOKAJ, which were composed to go with the poems born
during the era of Warsaw Uprising in the Second World War. UMIERA PIEKNO swirled
a huge sensation in Poland. Due to demanding conditions on the performance
(interconnectedness with the string orchestra), the program takes place only
rarely. 
From the Czech scene, all awardees of the Czech Musical
Academy Award „Anděl,“ for the past 5 years will perform. Those will be
JAROMIR HONZAK with his Czech-Polish quartet, DAVID DORUZKA together with
Swedish singer JOSEFINE LINDSTRAND, VERTIGO QUINTET with DOROTA BAROVA, ONDREJ
PIVEC with his guest from the United States, JOEL FRAHM. Also present will be
BEATA HLAVENKOVA with LENKA DUSILOVA, LIBOR SMOLDAS TRIO and PETR ZELENKA
QUARTET. The conductor of the night will be LEOS SVAROVSKY. The event is
organized by Wolf Star Production agency, together with Bon Art Production
company. The program was prepared by jazz publishing house ANIMAL MUSIC, which
publishes the records of all above named Czech musicians. The tickets are
available through TICKETPRO or directly in Rudolfinum.
New cd
Petr Zelenka will release in september 2008 his
long-awaited album Memory Flash. It will feature eight of his original
instrumental pieces in performances by world-renowned artists living in Paris,
where Petr lived and worked from 2003 to 2007. The ensemble consists of
Frenchman Olivier Zanot on soprano and alto saxophone, Israeli Yoni Zelnik on
contrabass, and Canadian Karl Jannuska on drums and percussion. The compositions
themselves show the influence not only of contemporary jazz, but also Arabic,
Scandinavian and Moravian folk music. Zelenka, like David Dorůžka and Jaromír
Honzák, his colleagues, friends and frequent bandmates, writes music that
blends genres, blurring the borders between jazz and other styles. His rich,
intricate, authentic music is thus firmly rooted in the context of
Europe’s modern original jazz scene. The album was produced at Svárov studio
with the help of sound engineer Lukáš Martinek, and mastered by the renowned
Bob Katz at Digital Domain in the USA. The album design is the work of Aleš
Najbrt and photographer Václav Jirásek.
New web
New web pages are launched! You can download here information about the current projects, promotional photos, listen to MP3, watch video and many other things
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