Matěj Diviš & Antonín Procházka

Matěj Diviš and Antonín Procházka are percussionists in a very wide range of projects and groups. They perform in symphony orchestras (ČF, FOK, SOČR, ND), chamber ensembles of contemporary music (Berg, PMP), indie-pop bands and free improvisation groups. Their joint duo was formed during their studies at the HAMU in Prague. The main impulse to create together came paradoxically during the first pandemic wave. The inability to practice and give concerts on classical, grandiose instruments, as they had been used to, led them to discover a different face of percussion - the minimalist, contemplative or downright therapeutic one.

After home experiments from quarantine, Diviš and Procházka decided to develop this approach to playing on campus. In September 2020, their joint work resulted in a unique project In the Garden, where they left the concert hall and tailored their compositions to the HAMU Meditation Garden. Since then, they have been presenting percussion instruments in more unusual positions, bringing them to interesting places and presenting them in a context that they believe can touch the listener in an even different way than a traditional concert. In addition to their concerts together, they have recently drawn attention to themselves through their compositional work. Their compositions have been performed in the Martinů Hall, in Prague's CAMP on the occasion of the announcement of the architectural competition for the new building of the Vltava Philharmonic, and in the Suk Hall of the Rudolfinum as part of the Czech Philharmonic's chamber concert series.