František Sláma (1923 - 2004) was born in Herálec↗ pod Žákovou horou (Herálec below Žák mountain) in Moravian Highlands. At the age of six, he sang in the chapel choir and later he played the violin and trumpet in the local band of his father in his native village. However, in the poor region of Moravian Highlands there were absolutely no thoughts of him starting any serious musical education. Until the age of 18 he worked in the forest and in the quarry. His meeting with the famous cello pedagogue K. P. Sádlo proved to be a turning point in his life. Sádlo picked him up “off the street”, supported him, introduced him to the cello and tutored him for the Conservatoire in Prague (1942-1948, cello with K.P.Sádlo, chamber music with Václav Talich). Between 1948-52 Sláma completed his studies at the Prague Academy of Music. By this time he had already been a member of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (1948-1981, since 1962 subprincipal cello and cello section leader).
Václav Talich encouraged Sláma's enthusiasm for chamber music. The opportunity to play under the legendary conductor in three different musical ensembles and to meet him in individual consultations during the next ten years was something of a miracle for the young musician. Talich had, alongside with K.P.Sádlo and later Milan Munclinger, a lasting influence on Sláma's musical development and artistic views.
During the next 45 years Sláma performed with leading chamber ensembles, his repertoire ranged from the Renaissance era to the contemporary music. In 1946 he was a founding member of Talich's Czech Chamber Orchestra, between 1953-1976 the viol da gambist of Pro Arte Antiqua (one of the oldest European ensembles focused on medieval and Renaissance music) and 1954-1997 a member of the ensemble Ars Rediviva, whose performances were an important impulse in the revival of the Baroque music in Czechoslovakia.
With these ensembles Sláma made a large number of recordings (with Supraphon, Columbia, DGG, Ariola, Nippon, etc.), which received several awards both in Czechoslovakia and abroad (e.g. Grand Prix du Disque de l’Académie Charles Cros). He participated in all Ars Rediviva LP records (cello and viol solo parts, cello continuo and principal cello in orchestral compositions). Milan Munclinger dedicated his reconstruction of J.S.Bach's Concerto in G minor (after BWV 1056 and 156) to František Sláma (recorded with Supraphon, 1980). Sláma also participated in the first performances of modern compositions (e.g. Ilja Hurník: Sonata da camera, Jan Tausinger: Evocations).
Since the 1970s he was a teacher at the Prague Conservatoire. He also wrote about music and musicians, cooperated with Czech Radio (e.g. introduced Jordi Savall to the Czech audience). In 2001 his book “Z Herálce do Šangrilá a zase nazpátek” (“From Heralec to Shangrila and Back Again”) was published - reminiscences about the Prague music scene between the 1940s and the 1990s as well as about Sláma's musical colleagues, conductors (e.g. Václav Talich, John Barbirolli, André Cluytens, Herbert von Karajan, Paul Kletzki, Erich Kleiber, Otto Klemperer, Rafael Kubelík, Lorin Maazel, Charles Mackerras, Igor Markevitch, Lovro von Matačić, Evgeny Mravinsky, Charles Münch, Antonio Pedrotti, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Leopold Stokowski) and other personalities whom he had met (Maurice André, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Enrico Mainardi, Milan Munclinger, André Navarra, Rudolf Nureyev, David Oistrakh, Jean Pierre Rampal, Sviatoslav Richter, Josef Sudek, Paul Tortelier, etc).
František Sláma archive collection donated to his native village Herálec consists of more than 5000 negatives and photos, over 150 hours of authentic recordings and documents about Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Václav Talich, Milan Muclinger, Ars Rediviva, etc.
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