>>> Jan Rybář was born on April 22, 1981. He attended elementary school of music in Prague at Voršilská street at the age of 5, where he studied piano under guidance of Zdena Janžurová (1986-1995). Later he continued with piano studies at Gymnázium Jana Nerudy (Jan Neruda high school) with Milan Langer (1995-1999). While there, he began studying composition with prof. Vladimír Tichý. He made him familiar with modern composition techniques. Rybář continued studying at Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where he attended the composition class of Milan Slavický (1999-2005). He tried to lead him more into modal compositional thinking. Between 2007 and 2012 Rybář joined a Ph.D. programme under the supervision of prof. Marek Kopelent. His final orchestral composition was Sinfonia estatica e malinconica. He wrote a doctor's thesis about czech musical avantgarde in Prague during the sixties.
>>>Since 1998, Jan Rybář co-operated with his former classmates from high school and founded the Hitmakers Orchestra. It was an important platform for finding his own musical style. He tried new compositional techniques, work with chance, quarter-tones, etc. The Hitmakers Orchestra now performs very occasionally, but it still exists. Later, he co-founded a composer's group Konvergence (alongside Ondřej Štochl and Tomáš Pálka), and together with an ensemble of the same name, he started a long-standing artistic co-operation. Jan Rybář left Konvergence in 2013.
>>>Jan Rybář works not only as a composer, but also as a pianist and conductor. As a conductor he performed many world and czech premieres, including his own pieces. He made also a few recordings for the Czech Radio and prepares a production of his own CD with chamber and vocal works. Jan Rybář works at ZUŠ Učňovská (elementary school of music) as a pianist (music accompanying at ballet lessons) and also creates audio and video recordings of concerts. Since 2013, Jan Rybář co-operates with female choir Bubureza as a choirmaster and composer.
>>>Rybář's musical language was strongly influenced by famous 20th century composers such as György Ligeti, Witold Lutoslawski, Luciano Berio, Olivier Messiaen, Krzystof Penderecki, Steve Reich, etc.). He was tempted by work with chance (aleatoric technique, improvisation), but often in contrast with regular rhytmic pulsation influenced by minimalism. However, he was also fond of characteristic harmony or modality as can be found in Lutoslawski's or Messiaen's works. Rybář also works with quarter-tones, which are often used as an opposition to "clearer" surroundings or as a non-tempered harmonic tones. He tries to put together different "new music achievments" and create modern and original musical synthesis.
>>>Jan Rybář works a lot with vocals. Vocal music and lyrics inspire him very much. He finds better self-expression in vocal music. He wrote three cycles after surrealistic and humorous poems by Christian Morgenstern (1998, 2001, 2006) or compositions after serious poems by Jaroslav Seifert ("If one could tell the heart... for soprano and orchestra - 2005) or Vladimír Holan (Cantata - 2002). During the years in Konvergence, he wrote many chamber pieces (often first performed by Ensemble Konvergence), but also a few orchestral (or vocal-orchestral) composition such as Sinfonia nr.2, Christmass mass, If one could tell the heart..., Sinfonia estatica e malinconica). Recently, Rybář turns back to vocal compositions. In 2013, he wrote the work Bubureza for female choir of the same name. Because of the stronger collaboration with Bubureza, Rybář works on brand new vocal pieces.
