Martin Chodúr

Chodúr and his teacher Eva Krňávková

Chodúr was born in Ostrava, Czech Republic. He inherited an appreciation of music from his parents. His grandmother, Božena Onderková-Poremská, had been a member of the opera choir of the Provincial Theater in Moravian Ostrava (today's National Moravian-Silesian Theater) since 1945, and he often sang with his mother, Melania, accompanied by guitar.[11]

At the age of three, he began attending the People's Conservatory and the Music School in Ostrava-Mariánské Hory, where he studied singing with teacher Eva Krňávková and recorder with teacher Mikuláš Ďurko. As a multi-instrumentalist, Ďurko introduced him to other instruments, and so during his twelve years at the People's Conservatory, in addition to the recorder, he also learned to play the accordion, heligonka, and keyboards.[12] At the same time, he began composing classical music and gave a clarinet concerto to his teacher Ďurko as part of the graduation concert.[13]

Chodúr and his teacher Mikuláš Ďurko

Chodúr also took private lessons in composition from Ostrava composer Pavel Helebrand. His passion since childhood has also been poetry, literature, and English. His first published work, a poem called "Joy", appeared in the Almanac of Pupils' Poetry 2003/2004.[14]

Chodúr's real musical beginnings came when he was eleven years old. The recorder was replaced by a clarinet, which he had begun studying with bass clarinetist Jiří Masný at the Janáček Conservatory and Grammar School in Ostrava.[15] Masný, as a member of the Janáček Philharmonic, collaborated on recording Chodúr's Christmas album Hallelujah (Vánoční písně a koledy). Chodúr had already begun to develop his piano playing in the first year at the Janáček Conservatory, and this became part of his creative process.

During his high school years, Chodúr devoted himself to guitar and singing.[16] He started a group called Eruption of Emotions with drummer Tomáš Novák, who was a classmate of his older brother, Marek. At first, they played as a guitar/vocals and drums duo. Later, guitarist Adam Čermák joined. The group's membership changed frequently, and over the next five years, they changed their name to The Moods and added violin to their lineup. The group played club performances, participated in the music mini-festival Podchodem vstup in Ostrava, and performed at the multi-genre amateur band competition BOOMCUP. In addition to participating in his own group, Chodúr also performed as an accompanying bass guitarist and guitar player in the group Mystic Fable, which made it to the BOOMCUP 2003 semifinals.[17]

Chodúr as a member of Mystic Fable Band (2003)

In 2003, Chodúr became a member of the band Robson and remained there for five years.[18]

In 2006, the group released an album named Who Is Martin?, which they performed on the Czech Television program Noc s Andělem in 2007.[19][20] After winning Česko Slovenská SuperStar in 2009, Chodúr left the band.[21] Shortly before the competition, he formed a duo with Petr Urbánek, a bass-baritone and opera choir member of the Moravian-Silesian National Theater in Ostrava, in which they played Klezmer songs. They also performed at several concerts together, including at the Parník club in Ostrava.

Chodúr in 2011

The Česko Slovenská SuperStar singing competition launched at a time when Chodúr had graduated with a high school diploma from the Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava in 2009. He entered the competition with support from his Robson bandmates. As he later stated, he liked that it challenged him to sing different genres of music, such as pop, rock, jazz, and others.[22] Competing for the Česko Slovenská SuperStar title in Bratislava's Incheba Arena, Chodúr won over his opponent Miroslav Šmajda.[23][24][25] In the same year, he won the Český slavík award in the Discovery of the Year category.[26][27][28]

Songs that Chodúr interpreted in the competition:

After winning Česko Slovenská SuperStar, Chodúr began working with producer Daniel Hádl on his debut album, Let's Celebrate. He brought ten new compositions to the record—nine with English lyrics and one in Czech, plus a cover of Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi".[29][30] The record became the bestselling album in the Czech Republic in 2010,[31] and the third bestselling album in the Slovak Republic.[32] It was released in 2010 by Sony Music.[33][34] Chodúr recorded the album with an accompanying band that included Slovak musicians Oskar Rozsa and Martin Valihora.[35]

After the release of Let's Celebrate, Chodúr began working on his next album, titled Manifest.[36] The album, sung entirely in Czech, was supported by a big band, including strings and a choir.[37][38]

In May 2013, Chodúr introduced his new jazz project, Martin Chodúr Sings Jazz, accompanied by a band whose members were Vlastimil Šmída, Patrik Benek, Jan Kyjovský, Marián Friedl, and Marcela Božíková. The successful project continued in the spring of 2014 with Martin Chodúr Sings Chansons and in May 2015, Martin Chodúr Sings Film Melodies.[39] The ensemble performed at a number of jazz festivals, including Vsetín Jazz Festival,[40] St. Wenceslas Music Festival of the Moravian-Silesian Region, St. Nicholas Jazz Festival,[41] Jarda Marčík Swing Festival,[42] and Těšín Jazz Festival.[43]

Chodúr's third studio album, named simply 3, was also entirely in Czech.[44] It contains thirteen tracks plus a bonus song, "Lullaby".[45][46][47] Ostrava musicians, including pianist Vlastimil Šmída, drummer Patrik Benek, saxophonist Marcela Božíková, and others contributed to the record.

Hallelujah (Vánoční písně a koledy) is Chodúr's fourth album.[48][49] It was recorded with the sixty-member Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Marek Prášil.[50][51][52] The majority of the tracks on the album are well-known Christmas songs. The title track is Leonard Cohen's famous "Hallelujah". Other popular covers include "The Power of Love" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood.[53][54][55] The pieces are sung variously in Czech, English, and Latin.[56]

• Who Is Martin? (2006)

• Let's Celebrate (2010)
• Manifest (2012)
• 3 (2015)
• Hallelujah (Vánoční písně a koledy) (2018)