Who is Alena Hučková?

Professional pianist who is dedicated to music and piano since the age of five.

Childhood

Alena was born in Bratislava in 1988. At the age of six she started to attend Eugen Suchoň Elementary School of Music(class of Alena Klattová). In that time, the famous pianist Eva Fischerová-Martvoňová, who raised several generations of successful pianists, took her under her wing. Thanks to her, Alena’s talent has been greatly developed,which was proved by many national and international prizes, as well as her debut with Brno Philharmonic at the age of thirteen. As a soloist, she later performed with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of National Theatre Brno.

Studies

Her piano studies continued at Conservatory of Bratislava under the guidance of Peter Pažický. Their cooperation brought other successes and lasts to this day. Next steps led to Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno where she took piano lessons from Jan Jiraský and piano pedagogy lessons from Alena Vlasáková. During her studies and after them she attended over a dozen of masterclasses of world-renowned pianists, eg: Matti Raekallio, Alexander Strukov,Eduardus Halim, Avner Arad, Jonathan Aner, Arkadi Zenziper, Balázs Szokolay, Donna Lee, Annlynn Miller, Richard Cionco, Yuri Blinov.

Awards

Until now she has received many awards for solo performances along with prizes for chamber music and piano accompaniment, eg: Absolute winner and The prize for the best interpretation of piece by W. A. Mozart (Amadeus International Piano Competition, Brno, Czech republic); 3^rd prize (Pro Bohemia International Piano Competition, Ostrava, Czech republic); 3^rd prize (EPTA International Competition for Young Pianists, Osijek, Croatia); 2^nd prize (Competition of Slovak Conservatories); 3^rd prize (International Schubert Competition for Piano Duets, Jeseník, Czech republic); Prize for piano accompaniment (Paganini of Bratislava, Schneider’s Trnava, Days of M. Ruppeldt, Bratislava).

Career

Alena has been accompanying and teaching since 2005. She worked at Jozef Kresánek Elementary School of Music in Bratislava as a piano teacher and accompanist. For two seasons she has also worked as a ballet accompanist at the Slovak National Theatre, where until this day she remains as a member of the orchestra. Nowadays she works as an external accompanist at the Department of String Instruments at the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts, Bratislava. She is a resident accompanist of the International Masterclass Camerata Comorra.

Together with viola player Martin Ruman they formed a chamber duo which regularly gives concerts in Slovakia and abroad. In September 2019 they released their debut CD with works for viola and piano by British composer Rebecca Clarke. Alena also formed a piano duo with pianist Vladimír Šranko. She was picked by a contemporary Slovak composers Evgeni Irshai, Marek Piaček, Viliam Gräffinger, Róbert Kraus, Ľubica Čekovská to premiere their new pieces. She performed at the festivals Convergences, Nitra Musical Autumn, Bojnice Culture Summer, Rajec Musical Spring, Sunday Matinees in the City Gallery of Bratislava, Albrechtina, Banská Bystrica Musical Spring etc. In September 2018 she performed with Pavel Bogacz jr. in Shanghai.