(b Brno, 21 Feb 1978). Czech composer and therapist. After studies in composition at the Brno Conservatory with Pavel Zemek-Novák, he relocated to Prague, where he studied with Marek Kopelent and Milan Slavický, with whom he also completed his doctoral studies.
His music always contains an element of quieting down, of a gradual focusing. In contrast to other composers working with quietness and stillness, for Pálka, silence is always arrived at; it always stands in contrast to, and is intimately connected with, the spiritual dimension of man, often present directly in his music through the use of both sacred and secular texts.
There is an intense focus on simultaneity and the present moment in his music; materials do not repeat often and are usually clear and legible to the extreme, sometimes as gestures, other times as textures or sustained notes. The spatialization of sound is a frequent concern in his works, almost exclusively composed for specific venues. It was also the topic of his doctoral dissertation....
