S1 Michal Rataj (1975) — Between Genres

Michal Rataj studied musicology at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University and composition at the Faculty of Music of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under Prof. Ivan Kurz and Prof. Milan Slavický. He also studied at Royal Holloway, University of London, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Musikhochschule Hans Eisler, and Universität der Künste zu Berlin. In 2006, he received a Ph.D. with a dissertation on electroacoustic music and contemporary concepts in radio art.

Since 2000, he has worked as a music director and producer for Czech Radio in radio art and radio plays and was a member of the Ars Acustica Group of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Since 2002, he has been the editor of the Radioateliér program of Czech Radio Vltava and founded the rAdioCUSTICA internet portal, focused on mapping the contemporary domestic acoustic arts scene. Since 2014 he has been collaborating with Czech Radio externally.

Rataj teaches composition and electroacoustic music at the Department of Composition of the Academy of Performing Arts and at the NYU in Prague, and has participated in a number of European festivals (V:NM Graz, AudioArt Kraków, NextWave, Multiplace). He has composed numerous soundtracks for film, radio, television, and theater productions.

The concert of the S series will feature Rataj’s chamber and electroacoustic works, raising the question of the development of new musical trends in the Czech Republic and abroad.