Michal Kaňka, Biography

Michal Kaňka was born on 23 May 1960 in Prague. He began to learn the cello at the age of seven with Mirko Škampa. He continued his studies at the Prague Conservatory under Viktor Moučka and finished his studies with Prof. Josef Chuchro at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. During his studies, he participated in 32 national and international competitions in cello and chamber music and won numerous prizes, the most important of which include: laureate of the P. I. Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow (1982), first prize at the Prague Spring Competition (1983) and victory at the ARD Radio Competition in Munich (1986). He regularly performs as a soloist with Czech and foreign orchestras: the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, he has collaborated with orchestras in Japan, the USA, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Slovenia and many others. From 1995 to 2005 he was a permanent soloist of the Brno State Philharmonic Orchestra and since 2003 he has been a permanent soloist of the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra in Prague for ten years. In addition to his solo activities, Michal Kaňka is an intensive chamber musician: in 1976 he founded the Martinů Quartet, from 1986 to 2022 he was a member of the Pražák Quartet, since April 2017 he has been a member of the Wihan Quartet and two years later also a member of the Talich Quartet.

Michal Kaňka has recorded more than 40 solo CDs, first for Panton, Bonton, Supraphon, Radioservis Praha, Nuova Era (Italy). Since the early 1990s he has had a long-term representation with the French company Praga digitals in Paris. Since 2011 he has been a teacher at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and from 2013 to 2019 at the Prague Conservatory. In 2014, he was appointed chairman of the standing committee of the Prague Spring International Music Competition. Since 2016 he has been a member of the Board of the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation. Since 2018 he has been a member of the Artistic Council of the Prague Spring Festival.

Michal Kaňka plays a unique modern instrument made by the French master violin maker Christian Bayon in 2006 and uses a French bow made by Nicole Descloux in 2000.

JAROMÍR KLEPÁČ Biography:

JAROMÍR KLEPÁČ is prize winner of international piano competitions, f.e. Munich, Paris, Prague etc…He has recorded for Supraphon, Panton, Bonton, Calliope, Hamonica Mundi and the American company RIAX about fourty CDs. As a soloist and highly sought-after chamber partner, he frequently performs in major music centres in Europe, and overseas (USA, Canada, Asia, Africa). He made concerts in festivals like Prague Spring Festival, Salzbuger Festspiele, Schleswig-Holstein Festival in f.e. Dvořák Hall Prague, Smetana Hall Prague, Semper Oper Dresden, Konzil Konstanz, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Herkules Saal Munich, Grosses Saal Salzburg, Eckhardt Grammar Hall Calgary, Pretoria Opera etc… He is a familiar figure in Prague concert circles; over the last three years he gave stunning performances of Tchaikovsky’s Concerto in B flat minor with the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, Liszt’s Concerto in E flat major with the Prague Symphony and he recently also gave several performances in Germany of Schumann’s Concerto in A minor with the Philharmonie Südwestfalen. In the end of 2014 he performed compositions by Rachmaninow and Chopin in 40 famous halls in France, incl. Paris, Nantes, Bordeaux, Lille, with accompaniment of the symphony orchestra. He heads master classes in Salzburg, Telč, Reykjavik, Edmonton, Rio deJaneiro , Prishtina and Prague. Since 2009 he is profesor at International Conservatorium Prague.