LUKÁŠ HURNÍK (b.1967), though born into a musical family (father a composer, mother a pianist), did not show any serious musical interest at first. At the Primary Arts School, his piano studies lacked enthusiasm. That changed in secondary school where Hurník founded a rock group with himself on bass guitar and writing all the repertoire. Later, he recomposed some of his rock songs such as his Hot-Suite for Piano Four Hands which earned Hurník the first prize at a composers’ competition in Tokyo. The synthesis of rock and classical music is typical of Hurník’s other works, particularly Variations on a Theme by Frank Zappa, the Cool-Suite, for a wind instrument and piano, and the  opera-musical The Angels produced by the Prague National Theatre in 2006. Rock allusions are also present in his oratorio Stations of the Cross and his symphony Globus for percussion instruments and orchestra. A key aspect of Hurník’s music is its modern polyphony. Hurník’s graduation with a degree in music pedagogy from Charles University in Prague marked the beginning of his activities as a music popularizer. He has written a book, Music’s Secret Laid Bare, co-authored a full series of music education textbooks for primary and secondary schools, and has produced a 400-part cycle Da Capo about musical concepts for Czech Radio. On Czech TV, Hurník has presented the Vinceró competition and several classical music concerts. He works also as a conductor and chorus master. From 2001 Hurník served as chief editor of the Czech Radio culture station Vltava, and he currently serves as chief editor of Czech Radio music stations D-dur and Jazz.