Photo: Supplied.
“Poláčková’s playing was so technically secure and musically insightful, it was unimaginable that anything she played could possibly be difficult.” (Cleveland Classical)
A musician’s musician, guitarist Petra Poláčková’s extraordinary musicianship and consummate virtuosity have seen her study, perform and take master classes all over Europe and in the USA, Israel, Switzerland and Mexico. In August, Australian audiences will have their first opportunity to hear her first-hand.
With Bachelor and Master Degrees, an impressive collection of awards and diplomas and the status of co-producing a major guitar festival Petra, surprisingly, doesn’t come from a musical family.
“There are nearly no musicians in my family, but I grew up surrounded by music. My mum was singing to me or with me every day and both my parents have good taste for music. We were also singing a lot in kindergarten,” she says.
“I started with music school when I was six and my memories from childhood are mostly connected with mu-sic, playing or singing.”
Petra plays a standard guitar but is noted for her work on a nine-string romantic guitar made by Jan Tuláček. While this formidable-looking instrument is not a familiar one for many concert-goers, Petra handles it with consummate ease.
“It gets its name because it was built in the romantic period. It’s more or less the same technique as the ‘clas-sical’ guitar, it just requires a special way to stop the extra strings. The main difference is the sound, more strings and smaller form.”
Watching Petra’s total absorption when she plays is almost as fascinating as listening to her; she says that the music takes her “to a timeless zone”. Petra’s repertoire is wide but her favourite composers are Bach, Schu-bert and Sibelius; “Not sure why exactly, I guess it’s more touching, more colourful, having a story in back-ground.”
Petra will play two Queensland performances, one at the Redlands Performing Arts Centre (Friday August 25) and one at Ipswich Civic Centre (Sunday August 20). She says that she is eagerly anticipating her Australian tour, which extends from Perth to the east coast.
“I am looking forward to seeing a new mentality, meeting new people and seeing new places!” she says.
It can be guaranteed that the new people are just as keen to see her.
