Rameau. Strozzi. Vivaldi

Vladislav Borovka — oboe

The oboist Vladislav Borovka is a graduate of the Prague Conservatory (Bedřich Vobořil) and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (Jiří Mihule) and went on to expand his musical education through residencies in Toyama, Japan, and particularly in Paris at the Conservatoire de Paul Dukas with Professor J. L. Capezzali. In 2000 he was awarded a Yamaha scholarship. His competition successes include 3rd prize and the title of laureate at the Prague Spring International Music Competition (2001). From 1994 he was a member of the PKF — Prague Philharmonia and in 2011 he went over to the Czech Philharmonic, where he currently plays the oboe and the cor anglais. As a chamber player, alongside his membership in the Prague Philharmonia Wind Quintet, he has worked with the Czech at the Prague Conservatory. He is a member of the organizational team for the Summer Bassoon Academy and the Czech Double Reed Society.

Tomáš Františ — bassoon

Tomáš Františ studied at the Brno Conservatory (under the tutelage of Jiří Nykodým) and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (with prof. Jiří Seidl and prof. František Herman). In 1993 he became a principal bassoonist of the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra and in 1994 of the newly established Prague Philharmonia. He has won several competitions (Kroměříž, 1994; Chomutov, 1995; Olomouc, 2000) and is a laureate of the 2002 Prague Spring International Competition. As a member of the bassoon quartet Fagotti Brunenses he won second prize at the International Bassoon Ensemble Competition in Potsdam in 1995. As a soloist, he has performed with renowned Czech orchestras, including the Czech Philharmonic, Prague Philharmonia, Brno, Pardubice and Plzeň Philharmonics. He is a founding member of the Prague Modern ensemble and a founder of the Haná International Music Festival. Since 2007 he has worked at the Prague Conservatory. He has been a member of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra since 2013.

Olga Dlabačová — harpsichord

Olga Dlabačová studied piano with Pavlína Vaněčková at the Pilsen Conservatoire, where in 2003 she began harpsichord studies with Alena Tichá. In 2010 she completed harpsichord studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with Prof. Giedrė Lukšaitė Mrázková. As part of the Erasmus study programme in 2008 – 2009, she focused primarily on the interpretation of 17th and 18th-century French music under the guidance of Prof. A. Zylberajch at the Conservatoire National de Région de Strasbourg. She collaborates with a number of Czech ensembles and orchestras (PKF – Prague Philharmonia, Prague Modern, South Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic, and Prague Chamber Orchestra). She is in high demand as a repetiteur.  In 2020 she contributed to the preparation of the educational material Suggestions to Teaching the Harpsichord, with the main objective to stimulate an interest in teaching this instrument at Czech primary music schools.   

Milena Kolářová — violin

She began learning the violin at the age of six at the Charlotte Masaryk Elementary Music School in Prague with Pavel Prantl, and graduated in 2018 from the Prague Conservatoire with Pavel Kudelásek. In addition to private lessons with Ray Chen, during her studies she also took part in a master class with Anne-Sophie Mutter. Participation in competitions brought her a Certificate of Merit from Concertino Praga in 2012, 2nd place at the Kocian Violin Competition and 1st prize at the Jozef Muzika International Violin Competition in Nová Paka, where she also won the Absolute Winner award. She is currently studying at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Prague. 

Prior to joining the Czech Philharmonic in 2018, she played with the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra and was the leader of the Prague Conservatoire Chamber and Symphony Orchestra. In 2015–2016 she was a member of the Orchestral Academy of the Czech Philharmonic. Since 2013 she has been the leader of the second violins with the Czech Student Philharmonic. 

As a soloist, she has performed with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, at the New York Summer Music Festival, where she studied violin in 2011, and regularly participates in the Lake George Music Festival (USA). She also plays chamber music, for example at the already mentioned festivals, or as the leader of the second violins with the Haydn Ensemble. 

Václav Petr — cello

Václav Petr is one of the most prominent cellists of his generation. He is the semi-finalist of the international cello competition Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann (Germany), the winner of the 70th Prague Spring competition (Czech Republic) and the overall winner of the Talents for Europe. He has also been awarded the laureate title in many other competitions around Europe.

He began his studies with Mirek Škampa at the Jan Neruda Grammar School in Prague before moving on to study at the Music Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with Professor Daniel Veis and graduating in Professor Michal Kaňka’s class. He developed his playing with Wolfgang Boettcher at Universität der Künste in Berlin, took part in the European Music Academy in Bonn and was selected to Marie Kliegel’s class as part of the International Holland Music Sessions. In 2015, he completed the Carl Flesch Academy masterclass courses with a solo performance alongside the Baden-Baden Philharmonic.

He started his solo career aged only 12 and has since appeared with the Czech Philharmonic, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, PKF – Prague Philharmonia, the Prague Chamber Orchestra and the Slovak Chamber Orchestra Bohdan Warchal among others. Last but not least, he is a keen chamber music player. After joining the Josef Suk Piano Quartet in 2009, he won the first prize at a chamber ensemble competition in Val Tidone and the Salieri–Zinetti Chamber Music Competition (both Italy), as well as one of the most prestigious competitions for chamber ensembles with piano, the “Premio Trio di Trieste” with this quartet. They regularly perform in the Czech Republic and abroad.

Being only 24 years old when selected as the Czech Philharmonic cello concertmaster, he became one of the youngest musicians to hold this post in the orchestra’s history.

Václav Petr plays a masterpiece instrument from Giovanni Battista Guadagnini’s workshop, a “Teschenmacher” model from 1757, loaned from a private collection.

Štěpán Hon — bicí

Roku 2014 začal studovat obor bicí nástroje na Pražské konzervatoři a po jejím absolvování v roce 2016 nastoupil na Akademii múzických umění v Praze. Téhož roku se mu podařilo zdárně absolvovat konkurz do Orchestru Opery Národního divadla v Praze a Orchestrální akademie PKF – Prague Philharmonia.

Následující rok nastoupil do Orchestrální akademie České filharmonie.

V roce 2018 absolvoval v rámci programu Erasmus+ podzimní semestr v Nizozemsku na královské konzervatoři Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag jazzový vibrafon u profesora Mira Heráka a v roce 2019 letní semestr v Polsku na Akademii Muzyczne im. Karola Szymanowskiego w Katowicach u profesora Bernarda Maseliho.