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The Czech organist, harpsichordist and pianist, Josef Rafaja, graduated from the Vejvanovsky Conservatory in Kroměříž in the organ class of Professor Karel Pokora. Hae also graduated from HAMU in Prague with Professor Dr. Jiří Reinberger and assistant professor Václav Rabas. He studied the harpsichord with Professor Zuzana Růžzičková and the piano with Dr. Olga Boldocké. From 1981 to 1982 and in 1985, he was a scholarship holder of the French government in Paris, where he completed his education with the famous organist Marie-Claire Alain (Rueil-Malmaison) and won the Prix d'excellence and l'unanimité. He also took part in international interpretation courses in Prague with Jiří Reinberger, Weimar with Johannes Ernst Köhler, Haarlem with Anton Heiller, Mechelen with Flor Peeters, Saint-Donat with Marie-Claire Alainová and Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges with André Isoir.
Since 1980, Josef Rafaja has been a teacher and later head of the organ department of the Pardubice Conservatory, where he educated a number of successful graduates (František Vaníček, Stanislava Dřevíkovská, Lucie Žáková, Alice Dušková, Pavel Svoboda and others) and accompanist of the oboe class, which consistently shows excellent results in competitions and at entrance exams to music colleges.
Josef Rafaja has recorded a number of interesting films for Czech Radio, such as Viktor Kalabis, Bedřich Antonín Wiedermann and Antonín Tučapský. In his home studio, he recorded a complete organ work by J.S. Bach, including Die Kunst der Fuge (BWV 1080) and a number of piano titles, such as 160 eight-stroke exercises by Carl Czerny, J.S. Bach's Inventions and Sinfonias (BWV 772-801), Tchaikovsky's Seasons, Frédéric Chopin's Nocturnes and others.
Awards: Interpretation competitions of the Ministry of Culture in Prague (3rd and 2nd prize, 1976,1979); J.S. Bach International Competition in Leipzig (Honorable Mention with Reward, 1976); Anton Bruckner International Competition in Linz (Honorable Mention, 1978); Prize for the best accompanist from the International Radio Competition Concertino Praga (1986,1998); Prix d'excellence a l'unanimité in Paris (1985). |
