[3] At the beginning the ensemble made its living by intensive recording of music for films, and only later changed its focus to presenting the standard repertoire in concert.
As a Jew, Pekárek was imprisoned in 1942 during the German occupation during World War II.
[3] He escaped the Germans in 1944, joined the Czech Army of Liberation and survived the war (see Resistance in German-occupied Czechoslovakia).
[1][6] Pekárek was broadcast on Adelaide radio station, 5AD, in September 1949 when conducting the South Australian Symphony Orchestra with Clement Q Williams as soloist.
[7] By November of that year he was appointed as a conductor for the ABC Orchestra of Western Australia.