Lectors

Vladimír Bukač is one of the foremost viola players in the Czech Republic. He was born in 1964 and started playing violin at a very early age. He continued his studies with Nora Grumlikova at the Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and then with Wolfgang Marschner at the University of Music in Freiburg, Germany. Already during his studies Bukac gained attention by winning prizes in several domestic and international competitions.

Between 1990 – 1993 Vladimir was engaged in Japan as soloist and chamber music player performing in all prestigious venues of Japan, as well as touring Australia and New Zealand. After returning to Europe Vladimír Bukač was invited to join the renowned Talich string quartet , which has been considered for many years to be one of the world´s finest string quartets. Over the past few decades, the Talich string quartet has been representing Czech musical art through the whole of Europe, Japan, North & South Americas, and South Korea, making records and giving master classes.

Apart from Vladimir’s string quartet playing, he performs regularly as soloist and chamber music player at major music festivals in Europe (Helsinki, Sardegna, Prades…) and also in Israel, USA and Japan.
He has made several acclaimed recordings on viola for the Czech Radio and BBC. Some of his CDs were voted one of Classic CD magazine’s “Choices of the Month” and were also praised with similar enthusiasm from The Strad Magazine and the Gramophone.

Since 2002, Vladimir Bukač is also a much sought-after professor of viola at the Music University in Dresden (Germany) and is regularly guest teaching at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and giving master classes in Europe and the US. Apart from these activities, Vladimir Bukac has been repeatedly invited to judge international competitions (L.Tertis, ARD Munich etc…)

He plays a rare Italian instrument built by maestros Santini Lavazza (1725) and G.P. Guadagnini, Milan (1775).

In 1979, Jean-Louis Capezzali received his diploma as professor of oboe and was appointed solo oboist in the Concerts Lamoureux orchestra. In 1984 he became soloist of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Since 1988 he has taught at the Conservatoire de musique de Paris and since 1998 he has taught at the Conservatoire de musique de Lyon. Jean-Louis Capezzali is regularly invited to masterclasses (Prades, Moscow, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Beijing, Seoul, etc.). He performs as a soloist with the best French and international ensembles (Concerts Lamoureux, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Opéra de Berlin, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, etc.). He is also involved in chamber music…

André Cazalet has been a solo horn player with l’Orchestre de Paris since 1980. At the same time he began a successful solo career. As a soloist he has performed under the batons of such luminaries as Christoph Eschenbach, Paavo Järvi, Semyon Bychkov, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Peter Eotvos, John Nelson, Michel Plasson, Antonio Papano, Walter Weller etc.

Among the most frequent partners in the field of chamber music we can mention Daniel Barenboim, Schlomo Mintz, Quatuor Talich, Jean Pierre Rampala, among others Pascal Rogé, Gérard Caussé, Maurice Bourgue, the piano duo K. and M. Labèque, Emmanuel Pahud, Pierre Laurent Aimard, Christian Tetziaff, Boris Berezovsky, Julian Rachlin and others.

His repertoire includes works from the 18th century to the present day. He is very active in collaborating with contemporary composers of the younger generation and has initiated the creation of many new works for horn. In fact, he gained great experience in contemporary music during his first lifetime engagement as a solo horn player in l’Ensemble InterContemporain de Pierre Boulez .

André Cazalet has been teaching horn at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris since 1985, and as a renowned horn professor he has also been invited to teach regularly abroad – at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, the Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St Petersburg, and at music colleges in Hamburg, Freiburg, Munich, Vienna and Tokyo. He was awarded the “Grand Prix du Disque” for his interpretation of the Brahms and Ligeti Trio for piano, violin and woodwind.

André Cazalet has been a member of the juries of leading international competitions in Geneva, Porcia, Italy, at the Prague Spring Festival in Prague, at the prestigious ARD competition in Munich (2016), etc. During his more than twenty years at the Franco-Czech Music Academy in Telč, he had the opportunity to teach our leading young talented musicians who regularly came to his class in Telč. Today, he is one of the world’s renowned artists – among them Ondřej Vrabec – solo horn player of the Czech Philharmonic, Kateřina Javůrková – soloist and winner of the Prague Spring Music Festival, Přemysl Vojta – winner of the ARD International Competition in Munich, and others.

Among his French students, the most successful are Félix Dervaux – solohornist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Alexis Crouzil – solohornist of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and many others… In 2011 André Cazalet was awarded the honorary title of “Chevalier de Arts et lettres” (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters of France).

Nick Deutsch – Is one of the most sought after oboists of his generation.

Born in Israel, Nick grew up in Sydney, Australia, where he commenced his music studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts with Distinction. Nick was awarded the “Gwen Nisbet” prize for most outstanding student.

An “MSOS” scholarship enabled him to continue his studies in Germany with Diethelm Jonas at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Trossingen.

As a Principal Oboe he has worked with many leading orchestras, including the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Radio Orchestras of Cologne (WDR), Stuttgart (SWR), Frankfurt (HR), Berlin (RSB & DSO), and Opera Houses of Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Mannheim, Cologne and Oslo under conductors such as Zubin Mehta, James Levine, Sir Simon Rattle, Kurt Masur, Lorin Maazel, Gustavo Dudamel, Kirril Petrenko, Ricardo Muti, Semyon Bychkov, Frans Brüggen, Ivan Fischer, Daniel Harding,  and many more. He also works regularly with various ensembles such as the Ensemble Modern, Capella Andrea Barca (Andras Schiff Ensemble) Chamber Orchestras of Munich, Stuttgart & Heilbronn, Camerata Salzburg, Klangverwaltung München, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and the Stuttgart Bach Collegium.

Nick was a member of the Budapest Festival Orchestra from 2002-2011 and performs regularly with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Nick has also played as Principal Oboist with the Bayreuth Festspiel Orchestra, The Super World Orchestra (Japan) and the Australian World Orchestra

As a soloist he has worked with numerous orchestras, including the Camerata Salzburg, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Munich Bach Orchestra, Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra (Tbilisi), Frankfurt Oper and Museums Orchestra, Real Filharmonia de Galicia, Polish Chamber Orchestra, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Mexican National Orchestra etc. An active chamber musician, he is a founding member of the Hindemith Quintet and works intensively with the Linos Ensemble.

Nick has performed in many major music festivals in over 40 countries on all five continents including the Salzburger Festspiel, Edinburgh International Festival, BBC Proms, La folle Journe (Nantes), Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Reihngau Musik Festival, Prague Spring Festival, Hambacher Musikfest, Bachwoche Ansbach,  „Festspielen Mecklenburg-Vorpommern“, „Schwetzinger Festspiel“, Schleswig Holstein Music Festival, Hitzacker Musiktage, Weilburger Schlosskonzerte, Musikfest Stuttgart, Darmstadt Ferienkurse, Münchner Biennale, Walled City Festival (Derry), Pacific Music Festival (Japan), Tongyoeng International Music Festival (Korea), Meli Mehta Music Foundation(Mumbai), Tbilisi Wind Festival, Musica Compostela (Spanien), Felicia Blumenthal International Music Festival (Tel Aviv), Sydney Festival etc.

As a Pedagogue, Nick has been guest Professor at numerous Music academies around the world including the Conservatoire National Superier du Musique (Paris), Royal College of Music (London), Royal Academy of Music (London), Gnessin School of Music (Moscow), Central Conservatory of Shanghai, Hong Kong Academy of Music, Bern Academy of Music, Buchman Mehta School of Music (Tel Aviv) etc. and regularly gives masterclasses all over the world.

 He currently holds the position of Artistic Director at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) as well as Professor of Oboe at the Hochschule für Musik – „Felix Mendelsohnn Bartholdy“ in Leipzig.

Nick is a Marigaux artist and plays a Marigaux M2 oboe.

Pavel Fischer was born in Zlín in 1965. He heralds from a musical family background, his father, Eduard Fischer, was a well-known composer and conductor who also founded the ŠKO in Zilina. In the years between 1979-85 he completed his studies of the art of violin playing at the Prague Conservatoire, which he further continued at AMU (1985-89) under the guidance of Professor Nora Grumlíková. As a soloist he has performed with a long list of both Czech and international orchestras. During his time at the Prague Academy of Music he concentrated intensively on the study of chamber music and in the year 1988, together with the pianist Ivo Jančik, he became the outright winner of the international chamber music competition in Trapani, Italy. Also during his time at university he became, in 1989, one of the co-founders and the leader of the Škampa Quartet, a group with which he regularly gave concerts in the most famous of the world stages, including Wigmore Hall in London, Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center in New York and the Santory Hall in Tokyo ( the Škampa Quartet became the first in the history of the Wigmore Hall to be their official resident ensemble between the years of 1994-1998 ). Pavel Fischer has worked with such excellent musicians as – Josef Suk, Jiři Bárta, D. Pecková, Melvyn Tan, Kathryn Stott, Wolfgang Holzmair, Ronald van Spaendonck, Nikolaj Demiděnko, Janine Jansen etc. 

In the last while Pavel has become even more dedicated to his teaching activities – giving masterclasses both at the Royal college and the Royal Academy in London, the Concertebouw and the Quartet Academy in Amsterdam, at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester and, in the year 2008, he became a violin tutor at the RNCM in Manchester and as of this year also at the Birmingham Conservatoire. His unusual interest in music of other genres produced, for example, a long-term cooperation with Iva Bittová spanning many years, the founding of the cross-over ensemble “Camael” and also the trio “Bardolino.” The premier of the first of these quartets, “Morava”, was heard in April 2008 at Carnegie Hall in New York and the Czech premier in the autumn of 2008, in the chamber series of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. The remaining two quartets had the premiers at the “Lake District Festival” in Great Britain. In May 2016 the premiere of his first Violin Concerto was held in České Budějovice ,in January 2018 his “Temperaments” for Voice,Violin,Cello,Accordion and Strings at Dvorak Hall-Prague and February 2018 (performed by The Pavel Haas String Quartet) his “Tales from Moravia” at Elbe Philharmonie in Hamburg-Germany.

Czech violinist Jan Mráček was born in 1991 in Pilsen and began studying violin at the age of five, most recently under the tutelage of former concertmaster of the Vienna Symphony Jan Pospíchal. As a teenager, he recorded his first successes, won a number of competitions, and participated in masterclasses by master Václav Hudeček – this was the beginning of a long and fruitful collaboration. In 2010 he became the youngest laureate of the Prague Spring International Festival competition and in 2011 he was the youngest soloist in the history of the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2014 he won first prize at the Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition at the Konzerthaus in Vienna…

Prague FOK, Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra and almost all Czech regional orchestras.

He is in his fourth season as concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and has just won the Prague Classics Award for the best concert performance with the orchestra for Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 under the baton of Peter Altrichter.

Jan Mráček plays a 1905 Enrico Rocca violin formerly owned by Oscar Shumsky and generously loaned to him by Peter Biddulph.

An open-minded and eclectic musician who plays both the modern and baroque cello, Jérôme Pernoo is also sensitive to the diversity of artistic inventiveness and participates in less traditional projects. For instance, he has collaborated with the choreographer Régine Chopinot in a staged production of Bach’s Suites for Solo Cello, which toured worldwide.

The season 2008/09 was highlighted by the World Premiere of the cello concerto Guillaume Connesson has dedicated to him, with the Orchestre of the Rouen Opera, in Rouen and Paris. In 2011 he will perform this masterwork several times in France and at the Enescu Festival in Rumania. Further plans include, among others, Schumann’s cello concerto with the Ensemble Matheus and Jean-Christophe Spinosi as well as the world premiere of a cello concerto by Jérémie Rhorer.

Jérôme Pernoo is founder and artistic director of the music festival Les vacances de Monsieur Haydn in La Roche Posay, which first edition took place in September 2005.

Jérôme Pernoo’s discography includes Bach’s Suites for cello (live 1998), the Ricercati by degli Antonii and Gabrielli (2002), the Rachmaninov sonata associated with the quatre Pièces, and the Frank Bridge Sonata for cello and piano, which he recorded with Jérôme Ducros (2002), the Cello concerto Nr. 2 by Saint-Saens with the Orchestre de Bretagne under Nicolas Chalvin (Timpani Records, 2006) and the Cello concerto by Offenbach with Les Musiciens du Louvre under Marc Minkowski (Archiv-Deutsche Grammophon, 2006). Just released his new CD-recording (for Ligia digital) with Jérôme Ducros including works by Beethoven (among others Kreutzer Sonata in the transcription by Czerny) and Ducros’s music for DECCA.

He plays a baroque cello and a piccolo cello. Both instruments are Italian and were built in the 18th century by the Milanese School. He also plays a modern cello made for him by Franck Ravatin.

Stéphane Réty began his musical studies in his birthplace Lorient, France.

Further studies took him to the conservatory of Nantes (Guy Cottin’s class) and finally to the Paris Conservatory (Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris) in Michel Debost’s class, winning a unanimous first prize in flute and chamber music(Cristian Larde’class) in 1989. First prize winner of the Vierzon international competition, prize winner of the Rampal competition, he has held the position of flute solo in various orchestras including the orchestre de Paris, Monte-Carlo Philharmonic, orchestra of the Zürich Tonhalle, Stuttgart Philharmonic. In 1991, he was appointed principal flutist of the Basel Radio Orchestra. Currently he is principal of the Basel Simphony Orchestra, and of the Zürcher Kammer Orchester in Switzerland.

As a soloist, he frequently appears throughout Europe, America and Asia with Musicians like Augustin Dumay, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Marie-Pierre Langlamet, Wolfgang Holzmair etc…. Amongst other premieres, he gave the first performance of Joachim Rodrigo’s flute concerto in Belgium in 1985 and also the first performance of “Nocturnes2” for flute and string orchestra by Wim Hendericks in Brussels, conducted by Barth Van De Velde in 2001. In May 2005, he gave the world premiere of Lourié’s (russian composer) duo for flute and piano.

He has made several recordings, including Johann Sebastian Bach’s «Suite No 2 », under the conducting of Rudolf Barshai, the “Brandenburg Concertos ” with the Seoul Chamber Ensemble for EMI, a CD devoted to Debussy for flute and harp with Nicolas Tulliez on the french label Skarbo.

His latest CD release, nominated for the Grammy Awards 2007, is devoted to J.S.Bach with flute concerto BWV 1056, Trio sonate from Musical Offering and Brandenburg 5 on Traverso, for Naxos.

Stéphane Réty has been invited throughout the world to give master classes (Europe,U.S., South Korea, Brazil…). In addition, he has been assistant conductor of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, and has composed film music, such as the score for the documentary “A star called Ayrton Senna” distributed by TF1 Video.

Stéphane Réty is Professor at the “Musikhochschule” in Dresden in Germany.

Přemysl Vojta was awarded in 2010 with the first prize in the International ARD Competition. In 2011, after his successful debut at the Beethoven Festival Bonn, he received the prestigious Beethoven Ring Award. Since then he has been performing as a soloist with many orchestras in Europe, South America and Asia including performances with the Academy of St. Martin ́s in the Fields, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra, the Wiesbaden State Theater Orchestra, and the Prague Philharmonia.

Přemysl was born in 1983 in Brno (Czech Republic), began playing the horn at the age of ten, under the mentorship of Olga Voldánová. After studying at the Prague Conservatory from 1998 until 2004 with Bedřich Tylšar he moved to Germany, where he was a student of Christian- Friederich Dallmann at the Universität der Künste Berlin from 2004 to 2010.

He was a teacher at the Universität der Künste Berlin (2010-2015), at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne (2015-2017) and since October 2021 he is a professor for french horn at the Folkwang University of Arts in Essen (Germany).

Přemysl Vojta was a Principal Hornist of the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra and now holds the same post in the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne.

Partnered with pianists Tomoko Sawano and Tobias Koch, he has released a number of recordings that attracted much critical acclaim. His latest CD of all Michael and Joseph Haydn horn concertos (with the Haydn Ensemble Prague and Martin Petrák) was released in autumn 2018.

Přemysl Vojta plays a french horn made by Klaus Fehr (model 3). For the performances with period instruments, he plays a f-horn made by Daniel Fuchs (Vienna) and a natural horn made by Curtois (Paris).

Pianist Miloslava Machová graduated at Prague conservatory as a student of Mrs. Eva Boguniová and after that she continued her studies at the Musical faculty of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in class of Mr. František Malý.

Having finishing her studies, she focused on chamber music and piano accompanying, playing mostly with wind instrument players. She co-worked with a number of both Czech and European leading artists and she recorded also a plenty of records with them. In 2008, she was named as the official accompanist of the Prague Spring International Music Competition.

She currently works as a research assistant at the Musical faculty of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and at the brass departement of Prague conservatory.

Since 2006, she regularly accompanies the students at the Summer courses of the French-Czech Music Academy in Telč.

Pianist Iva Návratová is appreciated by the audience and critics in the first place for her poetic and sensitive playing, which captures the attention.

Born in Ostrava, this Czech pianist began her musical studies at the age of five. After graduating of the State Conservatory in her home town, she proceeded to Prague, where she gained her Master of Arts degree at the Academy of Musical Arts under the direction of the great teachers and performers, Professors Jan Panenka and Ivan Moravec.

Even at the beginning of her career, she was already appearing as soloist with orchestras such as the Prague Symphony (FOK), Janacek Philharmony Ostrava, State Philharmony Brno and others.

Immediately after completing her studies, Mrs. Navratova was appointed as a teacher for Piano, Collaborative Piano and Chamber Music at the Janacek Akademy of Musical Arts in Brno, Czech. She quickly became a sought-after chamber music partner and performed regularly in concerts, radio and television with numerous soloists, singers and chamber ensembles. As a member of Society of Czech Composers and Concert Artists, she gave frequent premiers of new works.

In 1989 Iva has accepted the offer from the University of Music in Trossingen, Germany, where she teaches at the Piano Accompaniment Department. Since then she has continued to collaborate internationally with many well-known soloists and performs regularly in concerts, international symposiums, master-classes and competitions. With a vast repertoir, spanning a large range of styles, periods and chamber music formations, she has become one of today´s most indemand pianists. Her activities have included performances in Japan, South Korea, China, USA, Cuba, Turkey and in almost all European Countries.

Iva Navratova is also appreciated as a piano teacher. After moving to Trossingen, she has taught at Music Schools in Konstanz and Singen and during summer semester 2001 as a guest teacher at the University of Nothern Iowa, USA. Since 2002 she has been responsible for piano education at the Hohner Conservatory, Trossingen.

Born in Saint-Nazaire, Karine Sélo started playing the piano at the age of 7. First of all, she studied at the École Nationale de Musique in her hometown and obtained a DEM with distinction. She then continued her studies at the Conservatoires of Versailles, Paris and Boulogne-Billancourt where she obtained several first prizes for piano and chamber music. Among others, she has worked with Hortense Cartier-Bresson, Paul Meyer and Eric Le Sage in various chamber music groups.

In 2002, she met Jérôme Pernoo: it was the beginning of a long musical partnership and she first became his accompanist at the Royal College of Music in London and since September 2007 at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris. She has also worked with Gary Hoffman, Claudio Bohorquez, Philippe Muller, Michel Michalkakos, François Salque, Pierre-Olivier Queyras, Young- Chang Cho, Julien Beaudiment, Marc Danel… at master classes and international academies (Kronberg Academy, Cagliari Academy, Kuhmo festival, Musicalp, International Summer Academy PragWienBudapest…) and has been invited to accompany instrumentalists in international competitions such as the Tchaikovsky Competitions, the Feuerman in Berlin, the Young Concert Artists, the Paulo Cello Competition in Helsinki, Isang Yun in Korea, Queen Elisabeth in Brussels, as well as for the competitions for the Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Paris and the Conservatoire du 5ème arrondissement in Paris since 2005. ​​

A chamber music enthusiast, Karine performs in various groups, from duos to quintets and participates in many festivals: Les Vacances de Monsieur Haydn in La Roche-Posay, Les Musicales de Blanchardeau, International Summer Academy PragWienBudapest in Austria, International Spring Festival at Téatru Manoel in Malta, Festival de Saint-Hilaire Des Noyres, Musique en Pays de Serres, À Portée de Mains in Autun, Les Musicales du Parc de Wesserling, Cordes aux Vents, Musique en Pays de Noailles… She also performs at the Moulin d’Andé, at the Theatre de l’Île Saint-Louis in Paris, the Château de Ratilly and is a regular guest of the Ensemble Reza in the UK. She has partnered musicians such as Jérome Pernoo, Claudio Bohorquez, Michel Lethiec, Felix Renggli, Gérard Poulet, the baritones Yann Toussaint and Julien Clément, Claire Thion of the Chiaroscuro Quartet, the Elixir Trio… and she founded the Trio Impromptu with Anais Perrin and Lucile Perrin.

She has featured on the radio, particularly in the France Musique programmes Un Mardi Idéal, Plaisirs d’Amours, Dans la Cour des Grands, Les Apprentis du Bien Nourri.​

Her activities bring her into the company of today’s composers: in March 2009, she performed the Quintet for piano and strings by Jérôme Ducros, in 2011 she wrote the reduction for cello and piano of the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra by Guillaume Concesson for Éditions Billaudot and in 2013 she was responsible for the artistic direction of the En Aparte CD of the works of Jérôme Ducros for Universal Music.

Jakub belongs to the best known pianists amongst the Czech young generation. Coming from a musical family, he started to study piano at the age of five with Mgr. Božena Slancova at Bohuslav Jeremiáš Music School in České Budějovice. Jakub continued his piano studies at Conservatoire České Budějovice in the class of Magda Štajnochrova and at HAMU (Music Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts) with Ivan Klansky. Just now is he close to finish his PhD. Degree.

During his studies he undertook a year long placement at the Norwegian Academy of Music of Oslo in the class of Havard Gimse, with lessons from Leif-Ove Andsnes. Jakub made his debut in tender age with first place at Virtuosi per Musica di Pianoforte International Piano Competition and multiple laureateships at Prague Junior Note. 

He followed his early successes with a series of achievements: double victory at National Competition of Conservatoires, title of absolute winner from ProBohemia piano contest as well as with awards from Smetana International Competition, Chopin Piano Competition in Mariánské Lazne and others. Jakub gained laureateships of Beethoven’s Hradec International Competition, Mahler’s International Piano Competition and International Competition of Rudolf Firkusny. Most recently he became laureate of Bohuslav Martinu International Piano Competition. He attended international master classes with Jiří Hlinka, Kurt Seibert, Irina Lein-Edelstein, Frederic Lagarde, Lars Vogt, Avo Kouyoumdjian, Pierre Jasmin and Jelena Galinina.

Jakub has performed under the batons of many significant Czech conductors: Jakub Hrůša, Stanislav Vavřínek, Jaroslav Krček, David Švec, Petr Chromčák, Marek Ivanovič and others. 

Jakub has performed at renowned festivals: Janáčkův Máj, Musik Festival Koblenz, Sicilia Musica, Ti nejlepší, Talentinum Zlín, Chopin Festival, etc. Until now he has given more than 600 concerts for audiences in Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, China, Croatia, France, Russia, Germany, Greece, Turkey and Norway. He has recorded for Czech TV, Czech Radio and Bipp art. So far he has published a CD and 2 DVDs with live concert performances. At present Jakub resides in the Czech Republic.

Robert Umansky was born in 1985 in Kharkov (Ukraine) and studied there at the University of the Arts with Tatjana Werkina. He completed further studies with Michael Leuschner in Freiburg (piano) and with Tatevik Mokatsian in Saarbrücken (chamber music), which he completed with top marks. He also took part in master classes such as the Forum Musiktage in Madrid. He has won prizes at competitions in Göttingen and Ettlingen and in 2001 was awarded 2nd prize at the International Competition for Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz in Kiev. In 2013, he was awarded the prize for the best interpretation of a contemporary work at the Arthur Lepthien Competition in Freiburg. As a soloist, he has performed numerous concerts, including piano concertos by Mozart, Chopin, Rachmaninov and Prokofiev, and has taken part in audio productions, for example for Saarländischer Rundfunk. As a sought-after duo partner, he regularly performs with various instrumentalists and is invited as a pianist to international festivals, competitions and master classes. Since October 2017, he has been a lecturer for instrumental accompaniment with strings at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden.