Czech Chamber Music Society • Concert of competition winners

Pavol Praženica has played piano since the age of five. From 2017 to 2021 he studied at the Grammar School and Music School of the City of Prague under Libuše Tichá, where since 2015 he also studied solo singing as a secondary field in the studio of Jaroslav Mrázek. He is now studying at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in the studio of Ivo Kahánek. In addition, at the same school he attends a course for talented children and students under the guidance of Alena Vlasáková, and he consults regularly with Ivan Gajan as a private student.

His important successes include the title of overall winner of the competition Prague Junior Note in 2015, 1^st prize and a special award for the performance of Mozart’s Sonata in F major at the Virtuosi per Musica di Pianoforte International Competition in Ústí nad Labem in 2016, 2^nd prize at the prestigious Young Pianist of the North International Competition in Newcastle, UK, the prize for the most successful participant at the Prague Conservatoire Youth Piano Competition in 2017, 1^st prize and the award for the most successful Slovak participant at the Piano Talents for Europe International Competition in Dolný Kubín, Slovakia in 2018, 3^rd prize at the prestigious 2018 International Piano Competition in Enschede, Netherlands, 2^nd prize at the Broumov Key International Competition in 2019, and the title of overall winner at a nationwide competition of conservatoire and secondary school students in November 2019. He has also taken part in masterclasses under teachers including Shai Wosner, Benedetto Lupo, Tim Hurton, Michel Béroff, and Ivo Kahánek.

He has made solo appearance with orchestras including the Czechoslovak Chamber Orchestra of Prague, the State Chamber Orchestra in Žilina, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Janáček Philharmonic in Ostrava, and the Orchestra of the National Theatre in Prague with the conductors Simon Chalk, Thomas Le Duc-Moreau, Jan Kučera, Václav Blahunek, and Mikhail Gerts.

Pavol Praženica, Natálie Toperczerová, and David Pěruška play together in the Vyšehrad Piano Trio, which won 3^rd prize in September 2021 at the prestigious Concertino Praga International Radio Competition. In 2018 Praženica won the prize for piano accompanying at the Rudolf Petrák International Singing Competition in Žilina.