New Year's Concert - Jiří Vodička
To celebrate the beginning of the new year, the Prague House invited the fantastic artist Jiří Vodička, the concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic orchestra, soloist, chamber music player and one of the most prominent and most sought-after Czech violinists. The solo recital which took place on January 16th, was also the first event of the PH concert cycle to mark the Year of Czech Music.
Programme :
J. S. Bach – Partita No. 3, BWV 1006
E. Ysaÿe – Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Ballade Op. 27
N. Paganini – Nel cor piu non mi sento
F. Kreisler – Recitativo and Scherzo
N. Paganini – Capricco n. 24
G. Donizetti – Sextet from „Lucia“
Jiří started to play the violin at the age of six. Since very early on, he has excelled in a number of competitions and aged only 14 he became a university student at the Institute for Art Studies in Ostrava in the class of respected Professor Zdeněk Gola. He graduated with a Master’s degree in 2007. He won the first prize at the International Violin Competition Beethoven’s Hradec (Czech Republic) in 2002, was named the overall winner of the International Louis Spohr Competition for Young Violinists in Weimar (Germany) in 2004 and won the first and the second prize at the world-renown Young Concert Artist competition, which took place in Leipzig (Germany) and New York in 2008.
As a soloist, he regularly performs with top Czech and foreign orchestras, including the Czech Philharmonic, PKF – Prague Philharmonia, the Prague Symphony Orchestra and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra or the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra and Neue Westfalen Philharmonie. He has been the soloist of the leading Chinese Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra for many years. He recorded his debut CD “Violino Solo” with the Czech label Supraphon in 2014, featuring some of the most demanding pieces for solo violin. Many of his live performances were recorded by the Czech TV, Czech Radio and the German ARD broadcasting company.
As a chamber musician, he has performed with excellent Czech pianists including Martin Kasík, Ivo Kahánek, Ivan Klánský and Miroslav Sekera. In 2011, famous violinist Gidon Kremer invited him to join many world-renown artists and perform at his Kammermusikfest festival in Lockenhaus (Austria). He regularly takes part at famous festivals, such as the Prague Spring, Janacek’s May, Grand festival of China and Choriner Musiksommer. He was a member of the Smetana Trio from 2012 to 2018 and recorded two CDs for Supraphon with this ensemble, winning the prestigious BBC classical music award and Diapason d´Or.
Since 2015, Jiří Vodička is a concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic. He teaches at the Prague Conservatory and the Ostrava University. He plays Italian violin made by Joseph Gagliano in 1774.
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