Programme notes:

Tereza Jaďuďová (b. 2001)
Variations on Gloomy Sunday, Op. 19
Written in 2016

Tereza Jaďuďová’s Variations on Gloomy Sunday marks her first foray into the variation form. Inspired by the haunting melody of Gloomy Sunday, a song by Hungarian composer Rezső Seress—infamously known as the „Suicide Song“—this set of piano variations confronts personal and emotional darkness head-on. Composed during a time when Jaďuďová herself was wrestling with suicidal thoughts, the work becomes more than a musical exercise: it is a deeply personal artistic statement.

As she notes in her introduction, the piece is also a call to destigmatize mental health struggles, turning a taboo subject into an open, expressive dialogue through music.