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Miroslav Pudlak--balancing on the edge of kitsch.

Article Excerpt
Miroslav Pudlak studied composition at Prague Conservatory and musicology in Charles University, Prague and Universite Paris VIII. He was a founder and artistic director of contemporary music ensemble Agon (1985-1990). From 1995-1996 Pudlak has been active at California and Oregon universities as visiting composer and lecturer. He teaches music theory at the Academy of Performing Arts (AMU) in Prague. He is a conductor of a contemporary music ensemble Mondschein. His music has been performed in contemporary music festivals and concerts in the US, England, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, Finland, Luxembourg, Ukraine, Mongolia and France and recorded on CDs by Arta Records label. He is also director of Czech Music Information Centre.

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For many people your name is still associated with the Agon Ensemble. When did you actually leave the ensemble and why? Do you sometimes regret it?

I was closely linked with Agon between 1985 and 1990. Then I left for a year's fellowship in France and it somehow became clear that the group could work even without me. When Kamil Dolezal later left Agon too, we together founded a smaller group (Mondschein--today MoEns), because it suited us, the way you can get more done in a smaller group. As far as Agon in the Nineties is concerned, I'm sorry that it didn't do more for Czech contemporary music abroad, which it could have done, given its popularity. Instead it became a narrowly specialised ensemble dedicated to its own compositions.

In contrast to...

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