Ryba, Jakub Jan Concertos

Ryba, Jakub Jan Concertos

Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in C major, N 542

Concerto for Horn and Orchestra in E flat major, N 541

Cassatia in C, N 540

Eduard Šístek - violoncello (1–3)
Radek Baborák - french horn (4–5)

L’Armonia Terrena
Zdeněk Klauda

The compact disc of Ryba´s instrumental music brings, in the context of his work, a completely new perspective of his personality as a composer. Major part of his musical legacy consists of sacred music to which he devoted most of his active life. A lot of it was preserved mainly thanks to many existing transcripts that were found in various churches, on church galleries and in monasteries. His instrumental music unfortunately was not that lucky and most of it has been lost forever.

I will never forget the moment when I, Hubert Hoyer – the president of Jakub Jan Ryba Society and the publisher Tomáš Janeček were standing in the town of Starý Rožmitál between the cemetery where Ryba is buried and the church of Advancement of St. Cross where he spent almost all of his active life as an organist and regenschori. It was then that Hubert incidentally mentioned that Ryba wrote a Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in C. He started talking about it with great enthusiasm and played us a short extract from a live concert recording which he accidently had on him in his mobile phone. At that time, we were studying and preparing the recording of Ryba´s Stabat Mater, but we were so impressed by the violoncello concert that on the way back to Prague me and Tomáš Janeček decided to make a recording of the piece when the time comes.

For a couple of years, we “were stuck” because we could not think of a suitable soloist. The violoncello part is very long and technically extremely difficult, it also requires a mature interpret with vivid imagination as well as relaxed and tolerant attitude towards interpretation. The demands on the instrumentalist are simply enormous. This seemed to be a principal obstacle initially. Nevertheless, the Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in C was an original inspiration for the CD and remained the core of the whole dramaturgy. I am highly honoured that Eduard Šístek finally agreed to take part in the project and it seems that he has become Ryba´s dedicated interpret. Eduard is a cellist with flawless technical skills and what is more, his intellectual character prevents him from using it in a schematic way just to show off, but as a means of expressing the content hidden behind the score.

The Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in C was first performed in spring 2019 at Jakub Jan Ryba Festival and it was followed by a discussion with the artists. It was then that my good friend and the first flautist of Chamber Philharmonic L´Armonia Terrena Jaroslav Pelikán came up with an idea that the violoncello concert, especially its first movement represents a philosophical dispute among Ryba himself (solo violoncello) and his friends (number of non-thematic solo entries of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons and violas) who Ryba lacked in Rožmitál. This absence of friends in his real life, or we might call it an inner pressure, probably led to writing this piece. I must say that I concur with the idea completely and that´s why we tried to emphasize this aspect in our interpretation although we are well aware that it is only a hypothesis. Jaroslav himself contributed to it significantly as the flute is one of Ryba´s (solo violoncello) best “friends” in the fictitious dispute.

Concerto for Horn and Orchestra in D sharp consisting of two movements fits well into the dramaturgy of the CD. This piece shows Ryba in a completely different light. We meet a composer who is able to express in brief a wide rang of moods and shades of emotions in brief and who gives the listeners pure and straightforward joy in a similar way as his great idol Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart did. Let´s remember Ryba´s well-known saying:” This that comes from heart, goes right into the hearts of others.”

The contrastive mood of the two concertos then leads into a dance suite Cassation in C which was probably written for the needs of the gentry from Rožmitál Castle. Unlike the common dance suites of the time, this six-part cassation is full of esprit and intelligent humour comparable to Joseph Haydn´s music jokes.

Having listened to this music, we can only regret that Ryba´s 35 symphonies, 35 serenades, 38 instrumental concertos as well as a great number of secular pieces have been irretrievably lost. I am sure they would enable us to see Ryba as a complex, versatile and fruitful composer and his works would undoubtedly become a part of standard repertoire of this style period.

Jakub Jan Ryba (26 October 1765–8 April 1815) was not only a composer, but also a philosopher, poet, translator, literal and musical theoretician and an educator. However, his complex heritage had to wait for its rediscovery for two centuries. In 2016 the publishing company Nibiru Publishers released his Latin Stabat Mater and was awarded a prestigious international prize Diapason Découverte for the recording. In 2019 the same company released a CD with Ryba´s sacred music and thus confirmed its significant role in the “birth” of Jakub Jan Ryba Festival which has been taking complex care of Ryba´s musical legacy since 2018. This CD with instrumental concertos released in 2020 rounds off the trilogy of Ryba´s recordings with Nibiru Publishers.

The amount of Ryba´s preserved works for instruments is not big: out of many compositions of this kind there are only three violin concerts, Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in C and Concerto for Horn and Orchestra in D sharp left. Despite the fact that Ryba devoted a great part of his life to writing symphonic and chamber music, the only preserved score from the time when he was studying in Prague is a Violin Concerto in F from 1784. It is also his oldest preserved secular work. Ryba had a warm and deep relation to violin, he saw it as a main and irreplaceable instrument in both sacred and secular music. He once said that violin is as essential in music as bread in human life. His endless affection to the instrument originated in his early childhood when he used to cuddle it and go to bed with it. It was only due to the admiration for his professor and an excellent violinist Cassian Hanel (1752–1820) that he finally agreed to take up violoncello (while studying in Prague 1780–1785) so that they could play string quartets together. The only preserved concert for violoncello proves that Ryba mastered the art of playing the instrument on a very high level.

There are 38 concertos and 35 symphonies on Ryba´s list of compositions from the years 1782–1798. During the following 17 years he went on composing, but there is no list of his works available. Out of the 35 symphonies and 35 serenades, everything has been lost apart from one symphony and one cassation! The four-movement Symphony in C probably comes from Ryba´s early years as it belongs to early classical period. His six-movement Cassatia in C written presumably before 1800 (transcription from 1806) is a fresh piece of music and the only one preserved out of those 35 serenades. Both of them are written for a smaller orchestra compared to the concertos and they are full of fresh and heart-warming melodies. The next two preserved violin concertos belong to Ryba´s most fruitful period, which was the end of 18th and beginning of 19th centuries, at the same time he also composed the Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in C.

It is surprising that Ryba does not mention the violin concerts on his list of works in Jakob Johan Ryba´s musikalischer Lebenslauf from 1801. It is hard to say what led him to compose them in this particular period and why each of them has a different form. The Concerto in D is a classic three-movement concert, the violoncello concert has the same number of movements, but there is an introductory recitative which also appears in the violin concert in D minor, but that one is for a change a monumental one-movement romantic piece. A grand concert for violin and orchestra called Un grand Concert pour Violon principal from 1801 consists of one movement, it has a virtuosic solo part for violin and large instrumentation. It definitely belongs to one of Ryba´s masterpieces. The instrumentation is similar in size to the violoncello concert which only has two more clarinets. The grand violin concert with its 757 bars belongs among Ryba´s three biggest compositions (the score has 90 pages!). The orchestration is comparable to his huge sacred works – festive masses and above mentioned Latin Stabat Mater. Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in C from 1800 is called by a French name Concerto pour le Violoncello (N542). This concerto is a unique piece of music within Czech violoncello literature, not only because of its extent, but also because of its approach to the violoncello part. It is Ryba´s most extensive secular orchestral work consisting of 1064 bars on 95 pages of manuscript. Together with the grand violin concert it belongs to Ryba´s masterpieces of instrumental music with the largest orchestration. It has three movements; however, their proportion is a bit unbalanced at least at first sight. The first movement is disproportionately long, it takes more than a half of the whole piece and could well stand as a separate concerto.

First movement (Trade Maestoso. Recitativo-Allegro Maestoso) begins with a recitative, which seems rather unusual for that period. The beginning strongly reminds us of an accompanied opera recitative (recitativo accompagnato) and the narration of the violoncello part and its partners - represented by the solo wind instruments – indeed gives an impression of a dialogue. After that Ryba continues in a more or less traditional way by an extensive orchestral exposition in Allegro. It represents a traditional classical sonata form where the main motif is in C, side motif in dominant key G and the final part back in C, yet the solo cello entries are athematic. The first few tones seem as if the main chromatic motif will be followed but the character of the melody is so different from the main line that it looks more like a mere comment rather than a solo line. The solo violoncello continues in this kind of dialogue with the other instruments throughout the first movement and reminds us of much later Berlioz´s Harold in Italy. It is unlikely that Ryba intended to narrate a particular story here, in other words that he aimed at program music. In that case a composer of his quality would have certainly left a note about it in his score or elsewhere in his legacy. The piece is rather an abstract rhapsodic dispute on the background of the exposition from the beginning of Allegro, sometimes leaving the motifs both in form and key (for example key E flat major).

Second movement (Adagio) has a traditional form of subdominant key F major. Here, the composer gives the audience some space to relax in a gentler sound without big orchestra, trumpets and timpani. This lyrical and charming part is accompanied only by soft sound of the strings. The wind instruments enter solely in short interludes and the whole second movement feels like a rendezvous late at night. Third movement (Allegretto) is a typical final rondo that brings uncomplicated, brilliant and extremely funny music inspired now and then by Czech folklore and dance music. We can also hear traces of the so called “Hungarian” music – alla hongrois which was very popular at that time. As well as in the previous movements the solo violoncello plays in unusually high (almost violin) pitch.

It still remains unclear why Ryba wrote this exceptional concerto and what was its destiny. What we do know, however, is that it was not common to compose music without publishing. One of the hypotheses is that Ryba wrote it for himself, which would mean that he must have been a very accomplished violoncellist who would practice for hours and hours every day. This, however, is totally impossible considering the amount of work he had in Rožmitál. It is much more likely that he wrote the piece for Antonín Kraft (30 December 1749 Rokycany – 28 August 1820 Vienna) whose father was a brew master in nearby Rokycany. Ryba might have heard of Kraft´s skills and talent while he was studying in Prague; nevertheless, they could not have met there as Kraft left Prague for Esterházy in 1777 while Ryba started studying at Piarist School in 1780. Kraft was a renowned violoncellist with an exquisite technique at that time (1800) and Ryba apparently used in the concerto some technical elements that were considered Kraft´s masterpieces.

One way or the other, the fact that the score was left in Rožmitál after Ryba died is rather unusual phenomenon within his musical legacy. The score became part of a collection that a regenschori Filip Schmelzer from Rožmitál donated to the Royal Museum (Muzeum království českého) in Prague in 1876. Schmelzer claimed that Ryba neither composed the concerto to order, nor for financial reasons, but solely for the joy of composing. Despite being very busy at school and in the church, he proved that as a composer he could produce such a grand music form. He leads the solo instrument in an impressive way and he is also able to work with a great number of instruments. The violoncello shows a complete scale of its possibilities and sometimes it even goes into extremes, playing in the impressive range of five octaves! From the lowest tone C at the beginning of the first movement, it goes through its typical register of delicate sound up to the tones almost beyond the “classic” range (up to c4!).

Time and more frequent performances will tell how exceptional this piece really is. For the recording of this CD the urtext edition and the practical soloist´s score had to be prepared. Eduard Šístek – the renowned cellist and a member of Czech Philharmonic – agreed to take care of that and worked on it with great enthusiasm. The listeners thus can look forward to a milestone in the life of Ryba´s violoncello concerto.

Eduard Šístek: “I started studying the Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in C by Jakub Jan Ryba when I was asked to take part in its renewed premičre at a festival dedicated to Ryba in Rožmitál pod Třemšínem. Despite the highly demanding solo part, I soon grew fond of the piece and already during the very first rehearsal I knew that it was a rich and viable piece of music. When reading the manuscript, you cannot miss the date of completion, which is 1800. It means that the concerto is 220 years old this year and I wish it to be performed more often and to become a stable part of violoncello soloists’ repertoire.”

In comparison to the Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in C, which is a true monument among Ryba´s symphonic works, Concerto for Horn and Orchestra called Concerto in Dis a cornu principale might look much less impressive at first. It consists only of two movements and does not have such a large instrumentation. It has two more oboes and one more viola compared to Ryba´s oldest preserved Concerto for Violin and Orchestra from 1784 whose complete score was preserved, but the form of both concertos is similar.

Unlike the two largest Ryba´s preserved concertos (for violoncello 1800 and for violin 1801) that have Ryba´s original autograph scores, in this case we have no autograph at our disposal. The only known undated transcript of the individual parts that we have comes from Cistercian monastery in Osek. It was later moved together with the other compositions to the Czech Museum of Music in Prague. Due to a misspelled name (written R and K used to look very similar then) all the files are entitled K˙ba , but there is no doubt that they are Ryba´s work. Owing to incomplete score it is hard to evaluate the work properly. The files we have only contain scores for the first and second violin, first viola and contrabass. Many of the original scores for instruments are missing, for example two oboes, two horns and second viola. For the needs of the recording these parts were composed by Zdeněk Klauda taking into account Ryba´s customs and practice.

The concert probably comes from the time when Ryba studied in Prague as the following extract from his autobiography indicates: “And now a few anecdotes. Some students decided that they will honour their friends and acquaintances by composing nocturnes and cassations. The initiator of the idea was Mr.Tvrdý, a rector in Vodňany, many others took part in it, for example Mr. Lukáš, a chaplain in Žebrák, Mr. Vanouček, an engineer and my good friend who died in Croatia, Mr. Tomandel, a councillor in Rokycany, Mr. Bendel Junior, an excellent hornist, for whom I composed several horn concertos and for whom I have written this particular nocturne so that he could demonstrate his talent.” As we can see, Ryba used to write compositions for horn and he most probably tailored them to the needs and talent of the individual interprets.

To get a better idea how to interpret the solo horn part it might be useful to look at what horns used to be like and what features they had at that time. The instrument evolved from hunting horns. They were usually tuned in D, E, E flat and F. In compositions with parts in different keys it was necessary to retune the instruments. This used to be done by means of special rings that were placed between the mouthpiece and the upper part of the tube. Between 1748 and 1753 a modernization of the instrument took place. A Czech hornist Anton Joseph Hampel, who played in the court orchestra in Dresden, was one of those who contributed to the modernization and invention of the so-called inventionshorn. This new instrument had two ends in the middle of its curved tube into which the player inserted larger or smaller U-shaped crooks (inventions). The tuning of the instrument thus became much quicker and more stable.

An instrument that was originally used only for signalling during hunting thus became a melodic instrument in the 1780s. Due to its beautiful sound it remained part of chamber ensembles and orchestras and it soon became a solo concerto instrument too. At first playing the horn meant using natural sounds of the instrument and of course the composers had to be well aware of that. Later on, a technique of lowering the upper tones by inserting the player´s right hand into the opening was invented. This particular technique, known as hand-stopping, was first described by A. J. Hampel in a textbook Lection pro cornui. However, horns still did not have valves that make playing the instrument much easier nowadays and thus in the time of Haydn, Mozart and Ryba mastering the instrument needed very skilled players.

Ryba was fond of horns and used them a lot in his works. In fact, they appear in every composition, no matter how small the orchestra is. His passion for the instrument is well illustrated in a dictionary entry in his Book of Music Theory (Počáteční a všeobecní základové ke všemu umění hudebnému) published two years after his death in 1817: “Corno, corno di cacia, vl.n., lat. cornu, lesní roh neb trouba, Waldhorn, clarina. There are waldhorns of all tones. These days, however, there are waldhorns with so-called inventions that use all sorts of crooks to help the tuning. This instrument embellishes music greatly and means in music as much as shade in painting. It was invented in the 17th century in France. Václav Svída and Petr Röllich, Czech natives and Earl from Špork subjects, who used to live in Paris with their Lord, learnt how to play the instrument at their Lord´s request and then brought it back home and introduced it in here.”

Radek Baborák: “I am very happy that Icould participate in this project together with L´Armonia Terrena and Zdeněk Klauda because Ithink Ryba´s horn concerto is in away an exceptional composition. One could say that we have plenty of Czech classicist concertos similar to Ryba´s, for example Růžička-Rosetti or Stich-Punto who composed a great number of concertos indeed, nevertheless this two-movement concerto is exceptional because it is the only preserved piece for horn, strings and winds by Jakub Jan Ryba.

The concerto is written in E flat, which is the most convenient key for a horn. The first movement is slow and melodic, it sounds like a nocturne. The second movement, quick Allegretto Rondo, has a rustic dance mode, yet it is not a classic hunting music and it will surprise you with a grotesque ”minore” finished by a short recitative.

It is technically as demanding as Mozart´s concertos. In both movements the soloist gets space to create their own cadences and so-called entries and to demonstrate their expressive and technical skills.

I am excited that we have such a composition and I must say that this is definitely not the last time I am playing it because I like it very much. It is cute, playful and easy to understand, which is very important for the audience all over the world. There is a great demand for Czech music abroad, especially in Japan and I will be happy to integrate this piece into my repertoire. I believe it will go together with Rejcha and Dvořák very well. I am sure that Ryba´s horn concerto will appeal to listeners as well as to hornists and it will be performed more often than during Ryba´s life.”

Eduard Šístek is a distinguished young Czech cellist. He studied at Prague Conservatory in Jaroslav Kulhan´s class, at Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in Mikael Ericsson´s class and at Universität für Musik and darstellende Kunst Vienna at Reinhard Latzka´s class. He plays in orchestras, chamber orchestras and as a solo player. Šístek is a member of Czech Philharmonic and a member of Umělecká beseda. He specializes in interpretation of contemporary music and as a soloist collaborates with leading Czech ensembles. He became a laureate of several contests, such as the Contest of Bohuslav Martinů Foundation, the International Interpretation Contest Beethoven´s Hradec etc. He performed in Ryba´s renewed premičre of Concerto in C at the opening concert of Jakub Jan Ryba Festival in 2019. He has performed in recitals at Prague Spring and at Czech Chamber Music Society. He regularly makes recordings for the Czech Radio.

Radek Baborák is one of the most significant figures on the classical music scene. Since beginning his solo career over twenty-five years ago, his extraordinary musical performances have enthralled audiences in the most important cultural venues around the world. He has collaborated with many distinguished conductors, including Daniel Barenboim, Seiji Ozawa, Simon Rattle, Neeme Jarvi, James Lewin, Vladimír Askhenazy, James de Priest and Marek Janowski. Baborák is a regular guest at prestigious festivals such as the: Salzburger Osterfestspiele; Maggio Musicale, Fiorentino; Pacific Music Festival; the White Nights Festival, St.Petersburg; the Chamber Music Garden, Suntory Hall; International Music Festival, Utrecht; Julian Rachlin and Friends, Dubrovník; Le Pontes; Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival; Smetana’s Litomyšl and Prague Spring. He has performed as a soloist with the following orchestras: Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, RSB Berlin, Bamberg Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Tonkünstler Orchestra Vienna, Mozarteum Salzburg, Mito Chamber Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra and many others.

Baborák is especially popular in Japan; since 1994 he has been on regular tours in the country, playing with leading Japanese orchestras. Over a period of ten years, Baborák has recorded more than twenty CDs for the Japanese label Octavia Records (Exton,Cryston), among them music by J.S.Bach, which reached tens of thousands of listeners. The Baborak Ensemble CD received the Japanese critics’ prize.

An essential part of Radek Baborák’s musical life is chamber music. He founded and has been the leader of several ensembles: the Baborak Ensemble, consisting of French horn and string quartet; the Czech Horn Chorus, which continues the 300 year-old tradition of horn playing in the Czech Lands; and the string ensemble Prague Chamber Soloists, whose founding in 1960 is linked with Václav Neumann. He is a member of the Afflatus Quintet, which received first prize at the ARD competition in Munich in 1997. Baborák also performs in recitals with the pianist Yoko Kikuchi - the winner of the Mozart Competition in Salzburg, with the organist Aleš Bárta and the harpist Jana Boušková. He is a member of Berlin-Munich-Vienna Oktett and collaborates with the Berlin Baroque Soloists. Radek Baborák worked as a senior lecturer at the Fondazione Arturo Toscanini in Parma and he holds the position of a guest professor at TOHO University Tokyo and Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia. He also teaches at the Academy of Music in Prague. He has led horn courses in Germany and Switzerland.

Radek Baborák was born in Pardubice in 1976 into a musical family. At the age of eight he started learning the horn with Prof. Karel Křenek. Under his leadership he became the overall winner of the Prague Radio Competition Concertino Praga, received third prize in the Prague Spring Competition, first prize in the Competition for Interpreters of Contemporary Music and became a laureate of the Grand Prix Unesco. Between 1990–1994 he continued his studies at Prague Conservatory in Prof. Bedřich Tylšar’s class. During his studies he won competitions in Geneva in 1993, Markneukirchen in 1994 and ARD in Munich in 1994. In 1995 he was awarded the Grammy Award Classic and the Dawidov Prize. At the age of eighteen Baborák was appointed principal horn with the Czech Philharmonic, rather exceptionally without any audition, and he remained in the post for two years. In 1996-2000 he was principal horn with the Munich Philharmonic. In 2001 he signed an exclusive contract with the Bamberg Symphony. Baborák’s post with the Berlin Philharmonic in the years 2003-2010 represents the last chapter of his career as an orchestra player.

Chamber Philharmonic L´Armonia Terrena is a stable music ensemble comprising top Czech instrumentalists who specialize in solo, chamber and orchestral music. The concertmaster Jan Valta (among others a member of Herold Quartet) is a regarded and inspiring leader of the ensemble. The orchestra was founded by Zdeněk Klauda in 2014 on the occasion of recording Simona Šaturová´s solo album “Decade” which contains classicist opera pieces by Josef Mysliveček and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and was published by Nibiru Pulishers in 2014.

Since 2016 the orchestra has been regularly invited and has participated in several prestigious festivals. It specializes in music of Czech masters from the 18th and 19th centuries. Members of prominent Czech chamber orchestras, such as Czech Philharmonic Quartet, Baborak Ensemble, Herold Quartet, Sedláček Quartet, Doležal Quartet, Hans Krása String Quartet, members of Czech Philharmonic and National Theatre as well as young soloists take part in the projects of L´Armonia Terrena and help to build its brand name. The musicians play the modern instruments, however, always with respect to the authentic interpretation of the particular repertoire.

That was one of the reasons why the recording of Ryba´s Stabat Mater was awarded a prestigious prize Diapason Découverte. Stabat Mater will be performed in 2022 in the Church of Saint Simon and Jude in Prague as a part of Chamber Music Cycle of FOK Prague Symphony. In 2019 Nibiru Publishers released two CDs of L´Armonia Terrena, the first one was Antonín Rejcha´s Requiem released in September 2019 and the second one was Jakub Jan Ryba´s Missa Solemnis in C per Festo Resurrectionis released in December 2019.

Conductor Zdeněk Klauda is a versatile and complex musician. Apart from being a conductor, he leads musical renditions in the National Theatre Prague and he is the dramaturgist of Jakub Jan Ryba Festival. He started his career in 2008 when he was invited to take part in the rendition of Dvořák´s Rusalka at Salzburg Festival. Since then he has worked in a number of European opera houses (Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Semper Opera in Dresden, State Opera in Vienna, National Opera in Paris). In 2012 he participated in the rendition of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen for a festival in Glyndebourne and the following year in the rendition of Mozart´s The Marriage of Figaro for the same festival.

In 2012 Klauda received third prize in a conducting contest in Constanta in Romania. As an assistant he cooperated with distinguished conductors, such as Franz Welser-Möstem, Kirill Petrenko, Vladimir Jurowski and Tomáš Netopil.

Zdeněk Klauda is a founder and conductor of his own orchestra Chamber Philharmonic L´Armonia Terrena which collaborates with top Czech instrumentalists. So far, they have recorded five CDs for Nibiru Publishers and all of them got rave reviews. The first recording “Decade” with a soprano Simona Šaturová contains music of Mozart and Mysliveček. The second one is the world premičre of Jakub Jan Ryba´s Stabat Mater which received a prestigious award Diapason Découverte. In September 2019 Antonín Rejcha´s Requiem was released and a few months later in December 2019 Jakub Jan Ryba´s Missa Solemnis in C per Festo Resurrectionis came into existence.

Zdeněk Klauda frequently cooperates with Czech orchestras (South Czech Philharmonic, Hradec Králové Philharmonic, Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc, Chamber Philharmonic Pardubice), Czech opera houses (National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava) and significant Czech festivals (St. Wenceslas Music Festival) as a guest conductor. He regularly accompanies famous Czech and foreign singers, such as Simona Šaturová, Adam Plachetka or Veronika Dzhioeva.

In January 2018 Klauda made his debut as a conductor in Novaya Opera Theatre in Moscow. In the same year he presented the world premičre of Augustýn Šenkýř oratorio Dies Numini et Principi conducting the National Theatre Prague Orchestra. In January 2019 he participated in the rendition of The Bartered Bride in The Semper Opera House in Dresden, he made his debut in The Slovak State Philharmonic Košice and in February 2019 he debuted Mozart´s Magic Flute in The National Theatre. In November 2019 Zdeněk Klauda and his orchestra performed as a guest ensemble of the Czech Chamber Music Society in the Czech Philharmonic concert season. In the season of 2020/2021, Klauda will conduct Mozart´s Marriage of Figaro in The National Theatre Prague.