MO
The conductor Libor Pešek died on Sunday 23 October 2022
The conductor Libor Pešek died on Sunday 23 October, aged 89. He received the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation Medal in 2020 for his lifelong advancement of Martinů’s music.
“Libor has always been up for a good joke, and he is so very human. He has such a beautifully serene approach to life and philosophical wisdom, which was typical of Bohuslav Martinů as well,” the Foundation’s erstwhile director Prof. Jiří Hlaváč remarked during the award ceremony. When accepting the medal, Pešek recalled how he had struggled to find Martinů in his youth because there were “people full of hatred” in prominent positions, namely, Prof. Zdeněk Nejedlý, the Communist Minister of Culture who deprecated the importance of Antonín Dvořák, Leoš Janáček, and Bohuslav Martinů and who “prevented things from progressing at their natural pace”.