Czech Chamber Music Society • Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra

The Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra was foundedin 1980 with the support of the then director of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, under the auspices of its chief conductor, Václav Neumann, the violinist Josef Suk and the harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková. Its first artistic director was the Czech Philharmonic concert master Petr Škvor. Ever since its foundation, the orchestra has been made up of 12 string instruments. In the 1980s it gave numerous concerts both at home and abroad (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Turkey, Italy and elsewhere). Following Petr Škvor’s departure, the orchestra was headed by Josef Kroft (concert master of the Czech Philharmonic), followed by Jiří Hnyk (concert master of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra) and Pavel Prantl (concert master of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and former member of the Czech Philharmonic). Since the 1990s, the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra has made a number of successful tours worldwide: Japan (1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004), Germany (2002, 2003), Spain (1999, 2002), the USA (1999, 2001, 2003) and Canada (2007). After Pavel Prantl’s death in 2008, his post was assumed by Vlastimil Kobrle, a superlative violin virtuoso and concert master of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, under whose guidance the orchestra has performed to great acclaim in the Czech Republic and Germany, and in 2011 and 2013 toured Japan.

The violinist Vlastimil Kobrle was born in 1974. From 1989 to 1993, he studied at the Teplice Conservatory with Jiřina Dlouhá, until 1997 he was a pupil of Professor Václav Snítil at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. During the time of his studies, he succeeded in a number of international competitions and the Czech Conservatories’ Competition. He graduated with a full-length violin recital and a performance of Johannes Brahms’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major with the North Bohemia Philharmonic Orchestra in Teplice. He has attended master classes in Switzerland led by Albert Lysy and chamber music courses in Austria under the guidance of Prof. Schulz.

For five years, Vlastimil Kobrle was a member of the Suk Chamber Orchestra, with whom he toured Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Japan and China as concert master. During this period, he intensely collaborated with Josef Suk, giving concerts together with him, as well as appearing as a soloist, at home and abroad alike.

Since 2000, he has served as concert master of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. Within their subscription cycle, this year he delivered at the Rudolfinum the solo part of Bohuslav Martinů’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 2. He has regularly performed as a soloist with the Prague Classic Orchestra. Since 2009, he has been artistic director of the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra.