On Tuesday, May 19, the Slovak conductor, music composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist Pavel Zajáček († 74) passed away forever. During his career he collaborated with many famous singers. Even at the end of his life, he did not resent his work. Zajáček has been fighting cancer since July 5, 2024.
As his wife revealed to the weekly, it was a malignant chondrosarcoma, i.e. a malignant tumor that settled in his knee and femur and metastasized to the lungs. It was the ruptured blood vessel in the metastasis that accelerated the process of spreading the disease and bled the lungs of the musical giant.
„In the hospital on Klenova, they took him to ARO, where he stayed for 6 days. The staff were fantastic. They increased him so that thanks to doses of morphine he had no pain and 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 described the sad details of her husband’s death.
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,” said the widow.
She spoke about the last meeting with Zajáček singer Marcela Laiferová on a social network. “Today, he left us forever a rare person whom I respected a lot, a great musician and conductor Pavel Zajáček. We worked together on several projects and I knew him as a very talented and modest person. When I met him in the spring of last year and suggested to him that I would like to do my jubilee concert with him, he literally came alive and was looking forward to our cooperation“, she recalled.
He did his job excellently. “The concert turned out amazing, as the conductor paid attention to every note, so that everything was harmonized as it should be. His famous perfectionism was confirmed again. Unfortunately, it was also our last collaboration. Pali, you will be missed,” she sent him a message to heaven.
