The performers

The Krása Quartet was founded at the Prague Conservatory in 2012 in the class of Tomáš Strašil. They premiered the Shepard's Tale opera by Pavel Trojan at the 2013 Prague Spring Festival. In 2013, the ensemble took part in the Antonín Dvořák competition. A year later, they won the second place in the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation Competition. In 2015, the quartet guest performed at the international Bodenseefestival while participating in the Pavel Haas Quartet courses in Feldkirch, Austria. In seasons 2016 to 2019, they collaborated with the Czech National Theater within the modern ballet Vertigo. In September 2017, the quartet participated in the Karol Szymanowski International String Quartet Competition in Katowice. In November 2019, they won the second prize at the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation Competition together with the prize for excellent performance of a composition by Viktor Kalabis. Currently, the quartet continues its studies under the direction of Štěpán Ježek (Bennewitz Quartet) at the Prague HAMU and collaborates with members of the Zemlin Quartet. 

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The violinist Monika Urbanová and harpist Hedvika Mousa Bacha founded the Beautiful Strings duo during their studies at the Music Faculty of the Prague Academy of Performing Arts in 2010. They have won prizes at various international competitions and are also experienced soloists. They have performed together at concert venues in the Czech Republic and beyond since 2010. Between 2011 and 2013, they performed in the Easy Living Show at Mlejn Theatre, which combined classical music with aerial acrobatics. In 2017, they achieved success at the Unconventional Žižkov Autumn Festival and at the International Organ Festival in Filipov (northern Bohemia). In addition to original compositions, they also perform their own arrangements. In 2013, the duo released the CD Beau Soir, featuring works by French masters (including Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Camille Saint-Saëns). Their broad and varied repertoire - from the Baroque to the present - and their virtuosity and precision have won them wide acclaim from music critics and the general public alike.

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The duet Ludantaj koroj is a professional ensemble consisting of two voices - the human voice and the one of the cello, a unique and a rare sound combination that together produces a very authentic taste.

Two performers, the cellist Sylva Jablonska and the sopranist Lenka Nemeckova met at a different project that brought them together to later decide to experiment on something new and special. That gave life to Ludante koroj, which translated from Esperanto to English means 'Playing Heart'. The two performers focus mainly on classical music and traditional songs and tunes, produced in their original arrangements. 

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Clarinetist Anna Paulová, graduate from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and the Musikhochschule in Lübeck, Germany, started to play clarinet at the age of eleven and has been proving her talents ever since, collecting the most prestigeous of awards in national and international competitions. Among the most important ones are the special Golden Medal (High Distinction) award at the Vienna International Music Competition, the 2nd place at the Prague Spring competition in 2015 or the 1st place in the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation Competition in 2016. In September 2019, she made it to the semifinals of one of the most prestigious music competitions - the ARD Musikwettbewerb of the German public television and radio competition ARD in Munich.

The Czech composer and accordionist Jiří Lukeš studied composition (under Eduard Dousa) and accordion (under Ladislav Horak) at Prague Conservatory. During his studies he received numerous awards in accordion competitions in the Czech Republic, Slovakia or Croatia. He completed master degree at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under Ivana Loudova. Over the past few years Jiri has been cooperating with other composers. In his work, main focus is placed on the interpretation of contemporary music and the exploration of new possibilities of musical expression. These two areas were also the pillars for Lukes's book New timbral possibilities of accordion in the context of contemporary instrumentation. Some of Lukes's pieces were performed in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, China, Serbia and Ukraine. Lately, as a co-founder of the art group O.E.M Arts, he has been involved in several multimedia projects, including experimental audiovisual art, performance etc. Besides his creative work, he has been teaching at Prague Conservatory and Štefánikova and Taussigova music schools. Since 2015 he represents the Czech Republic in the Confédération Internationale des Accordéonistes under UNESCO.

To see the result of our joint work, click here.