International Music Academy Pilsen, Czech Republic

String Faculty

VIOLIN

Jiří FIŠER After his graduation from the Pilsen Conservatory, Mr. Fišer studied in Prague at the Academy of Fine Arts in the class of Prof. Antonin Moravec. He finished his studies at summer school in Zurich where he studied with Nathan Milstein. He was one of the first members and Assistant Concertmaster of the Newly founded Suk Chamber Orchestra. In 1985 he joined the Doležal Quartet where he served as its first violinist until 2003. Mr. Fišer has given many chamber music master classes in the Czech Republic and abroad. His students have been prizewinners in many international violin competitions, such as the Kocian, and Beethoven Competitions as well as the Concertino Praga and Prague Spring Competition. He has been a faculty member at the Jan Neruda Gymnasium since 1996.

Rodney Friend is recognized internationally as one of the most outstanding English-born violinists. As a soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster, director and teacher, he has appeared worldwide with the greatest musicians of the last forty-five years. He made his London debut playing the Sibelius concerto with the Halle Orchestra and his American debut playing Britten's Concerto with the New York Philharmonic. He has performed extensively as concerto soloist with major orchestras in Europe, North and South America, Scandinavia and the Far East under conductors Haitink, Barbirolli, Mehta, Leinsdorf, Solti, Giulini, Davis and Boult. Among his many recordings, his performances of the Britten and Bach Concertos with the London Philharmonic for EMI received the highest critical acclaim.
In 1991, he formed the Solomon Trio with whom he toured Europe extensively, playing at La Scala Milan and recording much of the great trio literature for Carlton Records. It is however, as a concertmaster where his experience and reputation is legendary. In 1964, he became the youngest ever leader of the London Philharmonic, working closely with Bernard Haitink, Barenboim, Solti and Giulini. In 1975, he received the unique honor for a British player when he was invited by the New York Philharmonic to be their concertmaster, playing concerts and recording worldwide with Bernstein, Boulez and Mehta. It is with these two orchestras that he recorded almost the entire orchestral repertoire.
On his return to London, he became concertmaster of the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Roszdestvensky and a senior lecturer and consultant of violin at the Royal College of Music. While there he formed and directed The RCM String Ensemble, touring and performing with many great artists. Since 1990, he has worked solely in the areas of teaching, along with solo and chamber music performances.
In 2006, the first two volumes of his books The Orchestral Violinist were published by Boosey & Hawkes and received universal acclaim as being the most important works so far produced for this discipline.
Mr. Friend travels regularly as a professor and jury member at international violin competitions worldwide and his students continue to achieve success in all areas of violin playing.

Patinka KOPEC (violin and viola), joined the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music in 1987, and teaches in the Precollege and Upper School Divisions. Since 1993, she has been the Co-Director and Co-Teacher of the Pinchas Zukerman Performance Program at MSM. She was a Co-Founding Artist of the Perlman Music Program (1995) where she continues to teach, and is the co-Director of the Young Artists Program at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Canada (since 1999).
Ms. Kopec has been on the faculty of the Heifitz International Music Institute in Brewster, NH, since 2007. She also taught at the Summitt Music Festival in Westchester, NY. This summer she joins International Music Academy Pilsen (Czech Republic). In the fall of 2011, she will be on the faculty of the Stavanger Festival (Norway) and will be giving master classes at the Oslo Music Academy.
Ms. Kopec completed her MM and BM at The Julliard School where she studied with Dorothy DeLay, Ivan Galamian, Lillian Fuchs and William Lincer. Ms. Kopec was a teaching assistant to Dorothy DeLay and Ivan Galamian. She has performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Carnegie Recital Hall, Town Hall, Down East Festival (NY), Killington Music Festival, and the Southern Vermont Festival. She was formerly artist in residence with the Andreas Quartet (viola) for 10 years and was on the faculties of Queens College, Aspen Music Festival, Interlochen Arts Academy, Sarah Lawrence College, SUNY Purchase, Thurnauer School of Music at the JCC of the Palisades (NJ), and Hoff-Barthelson Music School. She has given master classes in Tel Aviv, Prague, Ottawa, Shanghai with Itzhak Perlman and the Perlman Music Program (2002), and with Pinchas Zukerman in 2009, Miyazaki (Japan) and conservatories in the United States.

Violinist Lucie ROBERT has received enthusiastic praise from audiences and critics alike for the expressive lyricism and tonal beauty of her playing. Allan Kozinn, writing in The New York Times, lauded her “melting tone” and “wonderfully supple approach to phrasing.” Ms. Robert carries on the great violin tradition of her teacher and mentor, the legendary Josef Gingold. She is a graduate of the Conservatoire de Musique de Montreal and Indiana University, where she served as Mr. Gingold’s teaching assistant.
Ms. Robert has appeared as recitalist and chamber musician throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and the Far East in major music centers including New York, London, Chicago, Washington D.C., Vienna, Beijing, Seoul, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa. She has performed over thirty different works as violin soloist with all of the major orchestras in Canada, including the Montreal Symphony under Charles Dutoit. As a recording artist, she has performed for National Public Radio, the CBC Radio Network, Radio Canada, and Radio France, and received critical acclaim for her recording of violin sonatas by Faure and Saint-Saens. An active participant in the summer music festival scene, Ms. Robert has been guest artist or faculty member at festivals such as Bowdoin, the American Conservatoire at Fontainebleau, Musicorda, Meadowmount, Orford, Summit and Waterloo. She is currently on the faculties of the Texas Music Festival at the Moores School of Music, the Madeline Island Music Camp and the MusicAlp Academy in Courchevel, France..
Highly sought after as a violin pedagogue, Ms. Robert has served as violin professor for the past twenty-one years at the Manhattan School of Music and the Mannes College of Music in New York City. She has given master classes throughout the world at prestigious institutions such as Seoul National University, the Central Conservatory in Beijing, Oberlin Conservatory, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, the Glenn Gould School and the Conservatoire de Musique de Montreal. Her students have won prizes in major international competitions including Indianapolis, Young Concert Artists, Paganini, Sendai and the China International Violin Competition. Ms. Robert has served as an adjudicator for several competitions including the Montreal International Violin Competition and the Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition.

Stephen B. SHIPPS studied with Josef Gingold at Indiana University. He also studied with Ivan Galamian and Sally Thomas at the Meadowmount School and with Franco Gulli at the Academia Chigiana in Siena, Italy. He is a former member of the Meadowmount and the Amadeus Trios and has appeared as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Indianapolis, Dallas, Omaha, Seattle and Ann Arbor, as well as the Piedmont Chamber Orchestra and the Madiera Bach Festival. He has been a member of the Cleveland Orchestra, Associate Concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony and Concertmaster of the Dallas Opera, Concertmaster and Associate Conductor of the Omaha Symphony and the Nebraska Sinfonia, and guest Concertmaster for the Seattle and Toledo symphony orchestras. Mr. Shipps has recorded for American Gramophone, Bay Cities, NPR, RIAS Berlin, and Hessiche Rundfunk of Frankfurt, Melodia/Russian Disc and Moscow Radio. His work on the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas Albums has yielded a dozen gold and two platinum records. He has adjudicated major national and international competitions for three decades and serves on the Board of Directors of the Sphinx Competition. He is former Director of the American String Teachers Association National Solo Competition. Prior to joining the U-M faculty he served on the faculties of Indiana University, the North Carolina School of the Arts, and the Banff Centre in Canada. As well as serving at UM, he also is the Artistic Director of the International Music Academy of Pilsen in the Czech Republic. This season he is the official on-air announcer of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis as well as serving on their International Advisory Panel. Recently he served as Visiting Professor of Violin at the Prague Academy of Music in the Czech Republic.

Solomia SOROKA was born in L'viv Ukraine and is among the most internationally accomplished Ukrainian musicians of her generation. She earned her master's degree summa cum laude and completed postgraduate studies in the Kiev Conservatory, and later served on its faculty in the department of chamber music. Ms. Soroka also has a D.M.A degree from Eastman School of Music. Solomia Soroka made her solo debut at the age of ten, playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the L'viv Philharmonic Orchestra. She has appeared as soloist and chamber musician at concerts and festivals in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Italy, Ukraine, USA, Canada, China and Taiwan. Ms. Soroka won top prizes in three prestigious international violin competitions held in the former Soviet Union: The Prokofiev, Lysenko, and Zolota Osin' Competitions. She was Artist-in-Residence at James Cook University in Australia from 1994 to 1997, and has given the Australian and American premieres of several important contemporary Ukrainian compositions for violin. Solomia Soroka has toured and recorded extensively with her husband, the renowned American pianist Arthur Greene. Their Naxos recording of Four Violin Sonatas by William Bolcom, has been selected as a Recording of the Month with the highest ranking for both artistry and sound quality by Classics Today.

František SOUČEK, Prague, Czech Republic, is a graduate of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where he studied with Professor Ivan Straus. He graduated from the Prague Conservatory in 2000 in the class of prof. Jaroslav Foltyn and holds top prizes from numerous international competitions such as Kocian (1997), Beethoven (1998), Spohr (2001), Tribune of Young Artists UNESCO (1998), Concertino Praga (1996), Martinu (2004) etc. František Souček leads The Zemlinsky Quartet, a leading young Czech string quartet which won first prize at the Bordeaux competition 2010 and holds main prizes from London (2006), Banff (2007) and Prague Spring (2005) International String Quartet competitions. He was repeatedly awarded a full scholarship to the Meadowmount School of Music (U.S.A.), where he has studied with prof. Stephen Shipps (1999-2003). František performed Tchaikowski Sextet in a group with Pinchas Zukerman and Amanda Forsyth in the Meadowmount Benefit Concert. As a member of the Zemlinsky Quartet Mr. Souček records exclusively for the label Praga Digitals, having recorded more then 10 CD´s including the complete early quartets by Schubert and Dvorak (awarded Diapason d´Or in March 2007). František served as Assistant in the string quartet course led by Walter Levin and Gunter Pichler in the Musikhochschule Basel and since 2009 he teaches violin and chamber music at the Prague Conservatory.

Daniela SOUČKOVÁ, graduated from The Prague Conservatory under Prof. Jaroslav Foltyn and graduated in 2005 after studies with Prof. Ivan Straus at The Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Prague. In 1996, she won First Prize at The Concertino Praga in the category of Trios, and in 1998, she won Third Prize at The International Violin Competition of Ludwig van Beethoven in Hradec nad Moravici. From 1997 to 1999 she took part in the International Master classes in Semmering (Austria) and in 2001-2003 she received a full scholarship to study at the Meadowmount School of Music (U.S.A.) as a student of Prof. Stephen Shipps. She is member of the Bergerettes Piano Trio and has recorded for Czech Radio and TV and performs in the Czech Republic, as well as abroad.

Ivan ŠTRAUS studied at The Prague Conservatory and The Academy of Performing Arts. He completed his postgraduate degree at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. In 1968, he successfully auditioned as Professor of Violin at the Academy of Performing Arts. However, he was forced to leave for political reasons in 1975. He was a soloist of The Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice (1975-1979), Prague Symphony Orchestra (1979-1991) and, together with Josef Palenicek and Alexandr Vectomov, a member of The Czech Piano Trio (1968-1979). Since 1979, he has been the first violinist in The Suk Quartet. After the 1989 revolution, he returned to The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague where he became a professor and also worked as a vice-dean of foreign activities. Prof. Štraus writes articles for the press, records for radio and television and is a jury member for many competitions in the Czech Republic, as well as abroad. He has taught many master classes in Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, England, Holland, the United States, China and South Korea. Apart from promoting a classic repertoire, he also promotes Bohuslav Martinu's work in all his classes of which he is a dedicated expert.

David UPDEGRAFF has won a distinguished reputation for his wide scope of musical achievement. As a recitalist, he has performed widely to critical acclaim in major cities of the United States and Europe. As a featured soloist with a number of American orchestras, he has performed works ranging from Bach to Sibelius. A strong proponent of contemporary music, Mr. Updegraff has played many world premiere performances of works by prominent American composers. As a chamber music performer, he has collaborated with such artists as Lee Luvisi, Emanuel Hurwitz and David Shifrin. In addition he has played many radio broadcasts and has recorded on the First Edition label. Mr. Updegraff began his teaching career as the assistant to Paul Makanowitzky and has since achieved an international reputation as a teacher of distinction. His students have been winners and laureates in numerous competitions and have appeared as soloists with such orchestras such as The Berlin Symphony, The Cleveland Orchestra and The Louisville Orchestra. They have gone on to serve prominently in The London Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, The Toronto Symphony, The Atlanta Symphony, The Baltimore Symphony and many others. In 1987, Mr. Updegraff was appointed Professor of Violin at The Cleveland Institute of Music and has been Chairman of the Violin Department there since 1988. Previously, he taught at The University of Louisville and Western Michigan University. Before joining the IMAP faculty, he spent twenty-two summers teaching at the ENCORE School for Strings in Hudson, Ohio.

Danae WITTER, American violinist, made her debut at the age of twelve, winning the Indianapolis New World Orchestra Young Artist Competition. She received her Bachelor of Music Degree, Cum Laude, from Butler University, where she was the recipient of the Presser Award. She was awarded the Mildred Tuttle Scholarship for Graduate Studies at the University of Michigan where she received two M.M. degrees in Violin Performance and Chamber Music with highest honors. From 2005-07, Ms. Witter served as Teaching Assistant at the University of Michigan and at IMAP. She is currently serving as a Graduate Instructor at the University of Southern California, where she will receive her Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree in May 2011. As a soloist, she has won numerous competitions sponsored by Pi Kappa Lambda, Matinee Musicale and the Federation of Women's Clubs. As an orchestral player, she has performed in the motion picture recording industry in Los Angeles. Ms. Witter is an accomplished writer, assisting in editing the Sevcik project published by Lauren Keiser Publishing Company in New York. She also contributed to the Sevcik teaching article in the December 2009 issue of Strad Magazine. Active in IMAP since its inception, Ms. Witter serves as Assistant Director and member of the Violin Faculty.

Kirsten YON is in residence at Texas Tech University where she serves as an Artist-Performer and Assistant Professor of Violin and also performs with the Botticelli String Quartet. A sought-after teacher, performer, and clinician, she received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Michigan and the Cleveland Institute of Music and her Doctor of Musical Arts at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. While pursuing her degrees, Ms. Yon studied with Stephen Shipps, William Preucil, David Updegraff, and Kathleen Winkler. She attended the Meadowmount School for Strings, where she was the first recipient of the Catherine Tait Memorial Scholarship for Teaching and Outstanding Leadership. The winner of multiple competitions, Ms. Yon has been a soloist, concertmaster and performer with numerous professional orchestras across the United States and South America, including the Ann Arbor Symphony, the Cuerdas de Enlace Orchestra, the New World Symphony, and the Houston Symphony Orchestra. Concertmaster positions held include the Bayou City Chamber Orchestra, the Rice University Chamber Orchestra, and most recently the Rice Chamber Players and the Caprock Pro Musica Sinfonietta. Ms. Yon was a founding member of the Champlain Trio, the Athena Quartet, and the Archiano Ensemble, giving concerts and master classes throughout the United States and Brazil to critical acclaim. Students from both her college and pre-college studios have won numerous solo competitions and awards. A frequent master class clinician, Ms. Yon was also a founder and the faculty advisor of Cuerdas de Enlace (String Connection), a Texas Tech University pedagogical outreach program with ties to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Ms. Yon has taught at the Interlochen Center for the Arts as an assistant to William Preucil in the Valade Program and at the Texas Tech University Orchestra Camp. Ms. Yon frequently concertizes with her husband, organist and keyboardist Sigurd Øgaard.

VIOLA

Petr HOLMAN (1975) has achieved much success as a soloist as well as a chamber player. He graduated from the Department of Mathematics and Physics in the Charles University Prague and from the Prague Conservatory. Since 1994 he is a member of Zemlinsky Quartet (former Penguin Quartet). With this chamber group, he won many awards in different international competitions (London 2006, Prague Spring 2005, B. Martinu Competition 2004, Zilina 2004, New Talent Bratislava 2003). As a soloist, he became a winner of the International Beethoven Competition and he also performed with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. His interpretation experience is also supported by his membership in symphony orchestras - Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra (Chicago, 1993-1994) and Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra (1997-2004).

Jiří ŽIGMUND was born in 1966 in Prague. He graduated in 1986 from the Ostrava Conservatory, where he was taught by Professor Irena Vitkova (violine). In 1988 he started to play the viola with the Wihan quartet. Then he continued his studies at the High Music school in Munich with Prof.Heinz Endress. The Quartet takes part in Master classes by J. Metzger, U. Wiesel, H. Beyerle (Alban Berg Quartet) and A. Kohout (Smetana Quartet). In 1988, the ensemble was awarded the First Prize of the Prague Spring International Competition. In 1990, the Wihan Quartet won the International competition of Chamber Music at Trapani in Sicily. The ensemble demonstrated its high qualities again in the prestigious London International String Quartet Competition in April 1991 the jury chaired by Lord Yehudi Menuhin awarded the First Prize unanimously. The audience and journalists decided to expres their appreciation by awarding the Audience Prize to the ensemble. In 1996, it was awarded the 3rd Prize in "Chamber Festa" in Osaka in Japan. This success was followed by a number of performances in Germany, Austria, Great Britain, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. The Wihan Quartet has recorded a selection of its rich repertoire for Bonton, Popron, Lotos (complete Beethoven's String Quartets), Studio Matous and Arco diva. The Wihan quartet has also cooperated with other quartets and soloist (M. Sadlo, H. Beyerle, B. Pergamenschikov, M. Bourgue, G. Kremer, M. Collins, J. Suk, P. Devoyon, etc.). Jiri Zigmund teaches at Trinity College of Music in London and regularly plays solo viola concerts, alone or with orchestras, in the Czech Republic. He also joins forces with one or two of the other Wihan members to perform string duos and trios.

CELLO

Richard AARON has traveled extensively giving master classes in Spain, Germany, South Korea, Japan and France. In the U.S. he has given class at Rice University, the Eastman School and Oberlin College. During summers, he has taught at the Aspen Music Festival, Indiana University String Academy, Calgary Music Bridge, Aria, Innsbruck, the Chautauqua Festival and Idyllwild. Mr. Aaron's students have won numerous national and international competitions and have performed as soloists with prestigious orchestras, including the Cleveland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Seattle Symphonies. Award-winning quartets, including the Biava, Fry Street and American, include his students. He is a member of the Elysian Trio, in residence at Baldwin-Wallace College. Mr. Aaron served on the faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music and ENCORE School for Strings faculties for fourteen years prior to his appointment at the University of Michigan.

Winner of the Silver Medal at the 1986 International Tchaikovsky Competition while still a student at the Moscow Conservatory, Suren BAGRATUNI has gone on to a distinguished international career as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. In addition to performing throughout the former Soviet Union, he has toured world-wide, earning enthusiastic praise in both traditional and contemporary repertoire. Born in Yerevan, Armenia, he began his musical education there at the age of seven. After winning several national and international competitions, he continued his studies at the Moscow Conservatory and later in the United States at the New England Conservatory of Music.
Bagratuni began performing at age ten, and by age fourteen appeared as a concerto soloist performing Saint-Saens’ Concerto with the Armenian State Radio Orchestra. Since then he has performed with all the major orchestras in the former Soviet Union, including the Moscow Philharmonic (under the direction of Valery Gergiev) and has also appeared with numerous orchestras in Europe, Asia, and North and South America.
His solo appearances include recitals in the major concert halls of the world. Chamber music appearances have included guest invitations with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Newport Music Festival, the “Russian Winter” Festival in Moscow, the El Paso Pro Musica International Festival, Bargemusic, and international festivals in Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Columbia, Brazil, Korea, China, and Taiwan.
Bagratuni has won critical acclaim for his CD releases on the Ongaku and BGR labels, featuring solo works for cello, solo suites by Bach, and sonatas by Beethoven, Debussy, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich. He also appears on the Marco Polo, Russian Disc, Cambria, and CMH labels. He has recorded for Melodiya and been featured on CBC Radio Canada, WNYC in New York, WGBH in Boston, NPR, and NHK TV Japan.
In addition to his solo activities, he performs as a member of Trio Nobilis, serves as artistic director of the Cello Plus Music Festival and conducts master classes worldwide. A former faculty member of the New England Conservatory and the University of Illinois, Mr. Bagratuni is currently Artist-Teacher and Professor of Cello at the Michigan State University College of Music.

Cellist Amir ELDAN was the youngest member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra when he won the position of Associate Principal Cellist at the age of twenty-two. He performed with the Orchestra for three years and was invited by James Levine to perform with the MET Chamber Ensemble in Carnegie Hall.
Mr. Eldan was the winner of the concerto competitions at Juilliard, the Aspen Music Festival and the Cleveland Institute of Music and performed at Alice Tully Hall with the Juilliard Orchestra.
An avid chamber musician, Eldan has collaborated with members of the Guarneri and Juilliard String Quartets, Richard Goode, Kim Kashkashian, Joseph Silverstein, Midori, and Lynn Harrell. Mr. Eldan has presented concerts of Bach's six cello suites in recitals at Bargemusic, Columbia, La Sierra, and Indiana Universities, the ENCORE School for Strings Blue Ribbon Series, the Windham Chamber Music Festival, and in Israel. He has also performed in the music festivals of La Jolla, Marlboro, and Ravinia, the International Chamber Music Festival in Giverny, France, and the Open Chamber Music in Prussia Cove, England. He has also participated in the Piatigorsky Seminar for cellists and the Kronberg Cello Academy in Germany. Mr. Eldan received his bachelor of music degree cum laude from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he won the cello award for achievement and excellence. He is a doctoral degree candidate at the Juilliard School, where he received his master of music degree, and where he served on the faculty as assistant to Joel Krosnick, with whom he studied. He has also studied with Peter Wiley and Richard Aaron. He has taught at the Heifetz International Music Institute and ENCORE School for Strings and currently is Assistant Professor of Cello at Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

Miroslav PETRÁŠ, Associate Professor of the Academy of Music in Prague (since 1983) was born on July 17th, 1948. He studied at the Ostrava Conservatory of Music with Prof. Ivan Merka and at the Prague Academy with Prof. Sasa Vectomov. He is a Laureate of the Prague Spring International Cello Competition, finalist of the Gasparo Sado Competition in Florence (Italy) and winner of many National Cello Competitions. He performed in recitals many countries in Europe, far East and Americas. Also, he was a guest soloist in Dvorak and Saint-Saens cello concertos with orchestras in the United Sates on tours of the Prague Symphony Orchestra (FOK). Those two concertos are also recorded on CD. Mr. Petras is a member of the famous Czech Piano Trio and Martinu Piano Quartet. Among all those activities, he teaches at the Prague Conservatory of Music and externally at the Prague Music High School.

Cellist Lukáš POSPÍŠIL (b. 1967) graduated in 1988 from the Prague Conservatory, where he studied with professor Viktor Moučka, and in 1993, he graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where he studied with professor Miloš Sádlo. From 1991-92 he studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts (Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst) in Vienna with professor Angelica May. He took part in numerous master classes given by Erkki Rautio, Heinrich Schiff, Martin Hornstein and others. In 1983 he won 3rd prize in the Beethoven’s Hradec Competition and five years later won the Leoš Janáček International Competition in Brno. From 1988 to 1991, he was principal cellist for the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra (Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester) in Vienna and in 2004-05, served as cello soloist for the Berlin Chamber Orchestra (Kammerorchester Berlin). As a soloist, Lukáš Pospíšil has performed many concerts both in the Czech Republic and in Denmark, Austria, Germany and Jordan. He often performs with the Prague Chamber Philharmonic (Pražská komorní filharmonie), the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra of Mariánské Lázně (Západočeský symfonický orchestr), the North Czech Philharmonic of Teplice (Severočeská filharmonie Teplice) and others.
He focuses on promoting works by Czech composers. For example, in the Schauspielhaus in Berlin, together with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, he performed Bohuslav Martinů’s Concertino. He also performed the world premiere of the Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra by Zdeněk Šesták with the Czech Philharmonic (Česká filharmonie) under the baton of Jakub Hrůša. Contemporary music also forms a significant part of Mr. Pospíšil’s repertoire and he regularly includes works by Jan Hanuš, Hanuš Bartoň, Krzystof Penderecki and Alfred Schnittke in his concerts.
Lukáš Pospíšil is also an outstanding chamber musician. He cooperates mainly with pianist Jana Turková and also with other colleagues from the Prague Philharmonia (Pražská komorní filharmonie). He and his wife, Petra Pospíšilová, also perform together as a cello duo. In 2000, accompanied by the Prague Chamber Philharmonic (Pražská komorní filharmonie) under the baton of Jiří Bělohlávek, he recorded a solo CD for Lotos Music.
Since 1994 he has been a member of the Prague Chamber Philharmonic (Pražská komorní filharmonie), founded by professor Jiří Bělohlávek, where he serves as principal cellist.

WebDesign LESYCO GMA