Slovak conductor, composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist Pavel Zajáček died on Tuesday, May 19 at the age of 74. He was one of the outstanding personalities of the Slovak music scene. The artist’s death was confirmed for TASR by his niece Barbora Zajačková. For the weekly spoke Zajáček’s wife Stanka, who described his struggle and the last days of his life.
The musician co-founded and between 1972 and 1984 led the band Za-ja-ce, with whom he toured abroad and performed at festivals. From 1976 he was a member of the Dance Orchestra of the Czechoslovak Radio in Bratislava, later he became a member of the VV System and in the 1990s worked as a conductor in the Big Band Radio Bratislava.
When they disbanded their radio company in 1993, Ivan Krajíček offered to accompany the contestants in the Repete show. A year later, he founded the Pavel Zajáček Orchestra, which regularly performed in radio and television programs. His work and performance were connected with popular, jazz and orchestral music.
Zaječek died in the early hours of the morning. He breathed his last in the hospital, where he was fighting an insidious cancer. The well-known musician learned about his diagnosis on July 5, 2024. He humbly accepted the news, after which his life turned 180 degrees. “He was incredibly optimistic and never complained about anything. But he was like that all his life. Nice and kind to all the people around him. He wanted to spend the time we had left together as beautifully as possible“, the grieving widow revealed to the weekly.
She lived with her husband for an admirable 47 years. In 2023, Mrs. Stanislava decided to leave her teaching job so that they could enjoy their time together. However, the sad reality quickly set in. “In the end, we only had to travel between hospitals. I’m not complaining anyway. I would be disingenuous if I said it was appalling. We lived through that time very intensely, probably also because we knew it had to end,” she said words that are heartbreaking.
In difficult moments, music helped him. “He sought refuge with her in difficult moments. He tried to be useful and worked until the last moment. In his study, he made scores, arranged orchestras, wrote thousands and thousands of notes. He was happy there. I only went there occasionally to see if he needed anything, or I called him over for a meal,” she revealed how a prominent personality of the Slovak music scene spent her time at the end of her life.
Despite the fact that he was struggling with pain, a year ago he accepted an offer for a big concert during the vintage in the Rača part of Bratislava. He even arranged and accompanied Marcela Laiferová at her big concert where she celebrated her 80th birthday. “It didn’t bother him at all, it was a big boost for him and another charge to give him a reason to get up and live. But I’ll tell you honestly, I was very worried about him in that Rača. The others rejoiced, danced, and I was worried whether it would last and not fall. He had a bar stool with him in case he couldn’t stand. So we bought each other every day and every moment so that we could still be together,” she continued.
The grieving widow also revealed the details of his illness. Malignant chondrosarcoma, i.e. a malignant tumor that settled in his knee and femur, metastasized to his lungs. “Everything was accelerated by one blood vessel in the metastasis when it burst and bled into his lungs. In the hospital on Klenova, they took him to ARO, where he stayed for 6 days. The staff were fantastic. They upgraded him so that thanks to doses of morphine he had no pain and he managed to say goodbye to everyone via video call. And then he left quietly in his sleep at 1:53. The doctor from ARO told me this at 6 o’clock in the morning,” she shared the sad details of her husband’s death.
The departure of a well-known musician is hard for his whole family. In addition to his wife, two daughters and two brothers, he is also mourned by several grandchildren. “Anthony, the youngest, will be only three years old in November. The little one was a huge pleasure for Paľek. Every time he saw him, he covered him,” Mrs. Stanka sighed in the interview.
