Born in 1980 in Prague, Petr Bakla employs elementary, schematic musical structures (typically the chromatic and the whole-tone scales) in his compositions. He is interested in constructing situations where this "not-quite-yet-music" actually becomes "already-music", and he looks for structural contexts in which the seemingly empty figures can acquire a unique expressiveness and energy. This approach, which is rooted in "primary" musical materials, sometimes results in relatively complex and abstract music with little reference to historical styles, while other times it leads to subtly ironic and subversive dialogue with the music of the past (typically post-WWII European or American modernism), as well as the possibility to play with various stripped-down clichés employed as discreet ("structural") parodies of some classical or, more often, recently institutionalized compositional techniques and aesthetics. Another frequent feature of Bakla's work is the simultaneous course of two musical/sound layers which, although usually markedly differing in dynamics to allow for a sense of "figure and background", are not mutually subordinating - they are
of equal importance, their friction creating specific tension.
Bakla's music has been performed in Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Armenia, Ukraine and the United States (NYC, Boston, San Diego ao), in many cases commissioned and/or performed by distinguished musicians.
Petr Bakla studied music at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, took part in several composition courses and workshops home and abroad and was awarded scholarships and residencies. He is self-taught.
contact: bakla@volny.cz
