THE INTERNATIONALLY SUCCESSFUL VIRTUOSO MICHAELA KOUDELKOVÁ

On 9 May 2025, the young Czech virtuoso Michaela Koudelková is making her Supraphon debut with a combination of masterpieces by George Frideric Handel and Arcangelo Corelli. The album offers listeners a unique experience that celebrates the richness of baroque music and the interpretive freedom of its performing. It will be released on Friday, 9 May 2025 on CD and in the digital formats MP3, FLAC and Hi-Res.

“I feel very close to Italian music and to Italian ornamentation, a typical feature of the Op. 5 sonatas by Arcangelo Corelli. When considering which composer I could join with Corelli on the album, George Frideric Handel was the clear choice since they knew and influenced each other”, Michaela explains.

This project involves sonatas originally written for violin or transverse flute, and it reflects the flexibility of baroque performing practice. For her recording, Michaela Koudelková used a variety of types of recorders including the colourful voice flute in D with its darker colouring and the sixth flute, which sounds an octave higher, thereby creating a unique musical experience. “To me, improvisation is a rare source of freedom that I can permit myself within the definite rules of baroque music. Improvised ornaments are used to a greater or lesser degree in perhaps every one of the compositions”, Michaela adds. 

The album also contains sonatas from Corelli’s Op. 5, including the iconic composition “Follia”. Arcangelo Corelli’s Op. 5 is an example of lavishly notated ornamentation, which is also heard on the album. “However, for his Sonata in C major (the original version for violin is in A major), in the slow movement I used Corelli’s basic notation of the composition and created ornamentation of my own”, says the young flautist. The album thus presents not only Michaela Koudelková’s technical brilliance and artistic sensitivity, but also her ability to combine tradition with innovation.

Michaela Koudelková specialises in early music and plays copies of period instruments – recorders and transverse flutes. She studied under Peter Holtslag and Erika Bosgraaf and furthered her studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg. She has earned success as a soloist and as a member of the ensembles {oh!} Orkiestra (PL), Collegium Marianum (CZ), and Czech Ensemble Baroque (CZ), with which she has appeared under the baton of such important conductors as Jos van Immerseel and Tomáš Netopil. She is a laureate of the Tel Aviv Recorder Competition (Israel) and a winner of the Luigi Tufano Prize for the best player of the transverse flute.