Karel Havlíček

Karel Havlíček is a Czech composer and multi-instrumentalist, and one of the most sought-after Czech composers of film and stage music. He has written music for HBO series (Terapie, Mamon) and for films (Brothers (Bratři), nominated for a Czech Lion, Němá tajemství, Ghoul, Lion Ark, Carpe Noctem), as well as for numerous trailers, including the HBO miniseries The Penguin (with Colin Farrell) and the documentary Brothers After War produced by Gary Sinise. His music has also featured in commercials and idents for Czech Television (Události, ČT24), TV Nova and Prima TV. Before his solo career he was a musician and composer in the band Southpaw. After years spent in Los Angeles, he now works in his Prague studio Kabelovna. His debut album Spoken (2020) is a personal statement told through piano and a large orchestra, and he presented it live with the Stro_my Ensemble symphony orchestra in the foyer of the Faculty of Law and at Prague's O2 Universum. In 2024 he released the unique project Pregnancy Music, created for expectant mothers: across more than 40 minutes it builds ambient and orchestral textures evoking calm, safety and meditative harmony. In 2025 he released the double album It's Never Late To See The Light, which stays true to a cinematic atmosphere, combining orchestral grandeur with delicate piano playing and sensitively layered electronics. At a time when classical music in the Czech public consciousness is mostly associated with orchestras performing the canonical repertoire, Havlíček's work represents a different direction: modern, cinematically minded composition that draws on classical forms while embracing electronics, ambient textures and artist albums. Like world-class artists such as Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Hildur Guðnadóttir and Ólafur Arnalds, Havlíček combines depth of compositional craft with immediacy and emotion for a wider audience, bringing "new classical" music to listeners who might not otherwise seek it out. Karel Havlíček is also an ambassador of the Czech piano maker Petrof; together with his brother Maxim he introduced the Petrof Gemini upright piano.