Brandon Walker’s orchestration of Dalibor C. Vačkář‘s “The Afternoon at Sunny Hill”.

I was recently honoured to write an orchestral arrangement of a song written in 1945 by the famous Czech composer. Dalibor was one of the most popular contemporary Czech composers, renowned throughout Czechoslovakia.

Erica Viezner is a family friend and a huge supporter of the Czech community here in Toronto. Her mother received a handwritten score from the composer during the end of WWII, written for her and entitled after their family villa, named “The Sunny Hill” in Czechoslovakia. The composition, written for piano and solo instrument has held a special place for Erica and her memories of her childhood at Sunny Hill.

The piece was recorded beautifully a few years ago by concert pianist Robert Horvath and violinist Oleksandra Fedyshyn in Toronto. In late 2019, after learning of Brandon’s orchestral writing at a concert at the Prague Restaurant in Toronto, Erica commissioned an orchestra version of the piece.

The arrangement and orchestral recording was completed in January 2020 by Brandon and incorporates portions of the Horvath recording of piano and violin.

More about the life Dalibor from Wikipedia.

Music and photo with permission of Martin Vačkář