My Life in Dates

Every musician’s journey is unique. No curriculum vitae or bio can describe subtle details that play a major role in how our lives and our decisions shape our music. We all should have one thing in common, however. Musician’s life should be busy, colorful, eventful. ​I consider mine exceptionally inimitable. I was born into the period of deep “Normalization,” after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Music and my cello were my companions through socialism, fall of communism, and my journey west all the way to America and back again. Every step shaped my music. So, this might be interesting for you.

Studies

Picture
1988 - Winners’ Concert of the Conservatory Ostrava Instrumental Competition. Here playing Rimsky-Korsakov’s "Flight of the Bumblebee" in 56 seconds. (16 years old)
TOTALITARIAN ERA
​1977 – Five years old. Enrolled in children’s preparatory class at People’s School of the Arts in Jeseník, the Czech Republic, my home country
1977 – Started taking piano lessons.
1979 – Started taking cello lessons.
1986 – Graduated from People’s School of the Arts; accepted at today's Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava.
1987 – Third place at Ostrava Conservatory Instrumental Competition.
1988 – First place at Ostrava Conservatory Instrumental Competition.
1989 – Second place at Competition of Conservatories of the Czechoslovakian Socialistic Republic in Kroměříž. The leader of the Ostrava Conservatory student uprising, known as "The Velvet Revolution."
ROAD TO FREEDOM
​1990 – Performed Tchaikovsky’s “Rococo Variations;” got second place at the National Chamber music Competition in Prague with the Ostrava Conservatory Student String Quartet with whom we went to France where we played four professional concerts and took part at the Yehudi Menuhin’s Youth Orchestra in France.


​
​

Early Career
Picture
1993 - From a concert playing Martinů's "Rossini Variations."