Václav Petr
ranks among the most prominent Czech cellists of his generation. He began picking up awards from an early age performing at a wide range of competitions including the International Heran Cello Competition and the International Cello Competition in Linz, Austria. Particularly noteworthy accolades included collecting first prize from Prague Junior Note and becoming the absolute winner of the Talents for Europe competition. He has also been awarded the laureate title at many other competitions: the Concertino Praga, the International David Popper Competition in Hungary, the International Antonio Janigro Competition in Croatia, the Bohuslav Martinů Competition in Prague, the International Dotzauer Competition for young cellists in Germany, and the Rudolf Matz International Competition for Strings in Dubrovnik. In 2010 he was selected as one of just 12 participants to take part in a DVD recording from the prestigious Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann competition.
Václav Petr learnt the nuts and bolts of cello playing from Mirek Škampa at the Jan Neruda Grammar School in Prague. At the Music Academy of Performing Arts he was a student in Daniel Veis’ class, going on to complete his studies with Michal Kaňka. He has also perfected his playing under the guidance of Wolfgang Boettcher at the Universität der Künste in Berlin. In addition to the above, Václav Petr has also attended international championship courses in Kronberg, Hamburg and Vaduz, the music academy in Bonn while was selected to attend Maria Kliegel’s class as part of The International Holland Music Sessions. In 2015 he took part in master classes at the Carl Flesch Academy in Baden-Baden, delivering a solo performance with the Baden-Baden Philharmonic.
He has been performing as a soloist for 12 years now, playing with orchestras such as the Czech Philharmonic, the PKF – Prague Philharmonia, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, Pilsen Philharmonic, the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, the Bohdan Warchal Slovak Chamber Orchestra and more.
Last but by no means least, Václav Petr is also an avid contributor to chamber music. A member of the Josef Suk Piano Quartet since 2009, with whom he picked up first prize at a chamber ensemble competition in Val Tidone, Italy as well as the Salieri – Zinetti chamber ensembles and a prestigious competition for chamber ensembles and piano – the “Premio Trio di Trieste”. He also regularly performs with the Josef Suk Piano Quartet both at home and abroad.
Back in October 2013 Václav Petr successfully auditioned for the position of concertmaster at the Czech Philharmonic. At just 24 years of age, this makes him one of the youngest concertmasters in the history of the Czech Philharmonic.
Václav Petr plays a masterpiece instrument from Giovanni Battista Guadagnini’s workshop, a “Teschenmacher” model from 1757 loaned from a private collection.