Jan Mráček | Violin
Czech violinist Jan Mráček was born in 1991 in Pilsen and began studying violin at the age of 5 with Professor Magdaléna Micková. From 2003 he studied with Professor Jiří Fišer, graduating with honours from the Prague Conservatory in 2013 and until recently at the University of Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna under the guidance of the Vienna Symphony concert master Jan Pospíchal.
As a teenager he enjoyed his first major successes, winning numerous competitions, participating in the master classes of Maestro Václav Hudeček – the beginning of a long and fruitful association. He won the Czech national conservatoire competition in 2008, the Hradec International Competition with the Dvořák concerto and the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra in 2009, was the youngest Laureate of the Prague Spring International Festival competition in 2010, and in 2011 he became the youngest soloist in the history of the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2014 he took first prize at Vienna’s Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition at the Vienna Konzerthaus. When the victory of Jan Mráček was confirmed, there was thunderous applause from the audience and the jury. The jury president announced “Jan is a worthy winner. He has fascinated us from the first round. Not only with his technical skills, but also with his charisma on stage”.
He has performed as soloist with the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra and Romanian Radio Symphony, both under Sascha Goetzel, Lappeenranta City Orchestra (Finland), Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra (FOK), Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra and almost all Czech regional orchestras.
Jan Mráček had the honour of being invited by Maestro Jiří Bělohlávek to guest lead the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in their three concert residency at Vienna’s Musikverein, and the European Youth Orchestra under Gianandrea Noseda and Xian Zhang on their 2015 summer tour.
In 2008 he joined the Lobkowicz Piano Trio, which took first prize and the audience prize at the International Johannes Brahms Competition in Pörtschach (Austria) in 2014. His recording of the Dvořák violin concerto and other works by the Czech composer under James Judd with the Czech National Symphony was recently released on the Onyx label and has received excellent reviews.
In addition to his British debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, this season Jan Mráček made his American debut with the St Louis Symphony under Han-Na Chang, with the Symphony of Florida with James Judd, debuts in Dubai with the Vienna Concert Verein and in China with the Slovenian Philharmonic, the Czech Philharmonic under Manuel López-Gómez as well as recitals at festivals in Austria, Switzerland and Italy. In April he made his Swiss debut with the Tchaikovsky concerto as an Orpheum Foundation soloist in Zurich’s Tonhalle with the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Fedoseyev. In July he will perform with the Asian Youth Orchestra in Tokyo; next season he has three performances of the Dvorak concerto in Prague with the Czech Philharmonic under Jiří Bělohlávek.
Jan Mráček plays on a Carlo Fernando Landolfi violin, Milan 1758, generously loaned to him by Mr Peter Biddulph.