Live: Friday 4 Apr 2025 od 7.30pm, Czech Philharmonic • Beatrice Rana

Detail koncertu

Secure your seat for the 2025/2026 season – presales have just begun.

Choose Subscription
Search

Czech Chamber Music Society • Jan Fišer


Chamber music has a deep-rooted tradition in the Czech Republic, one that is actively nurtured through education. A key player in this is the Academy of Chamber Music, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. The occasion will be marked with a concert featuring current members, alumni, and faculty, including a world premiere by composer Jan Ryant Dřizal. 

Subscription series II | Czech Chamber Music Society

Programme

Richard Strauss
Capriccio, selections

Gustav Mahler
Piano Quartet in A minor (quartet movement)  

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Quintet for piano and winds in E flat major, K 452  

Jan Ryant Dřízal
Suite for winds, harp, cello, and double bass (world premiere)

Richard Strauss
Metamorphosen for 23 solo string instruments 

Performers

Instructors, members, and graduates of the Chamber Music Academy 

Jan Fišer violin 
Tomáš Jamník cello  
Přemysl Vojta French horn 

Kateřina Krejčová violin 
Anežka Jiráčková viola 
Vilém Vlček cello 
Tomáš Karpíšek double bass 
Theodor Dittrich double bass 
Zdeněk Pazourek double bass 
Amelia Tokarska harp 

Kukal Quartet 
Trio Incendio 
Trio Slavic 

Photo illustrating the event Czech Chamber Music Society • Jan Fišer

Rudolfinum — Dvořák Hall

Performers

Jan Fišer  violin

Jan Fišer

Czech Philharmonic concertmaster Jan Fišer already exhibited his obvious musical talent as a child, winning many competitions (Kocian Violin Competition, Concertino Praga, UNESCO Tribune of Young Musicians, Beethoven’s Hradec etc.). He comes from a musical family, quite literally a family of violinists—his father is one of the most respected violin teachers in this country, and his younger brother Jakub plays first violin in the Bennewitz Quartet. Jan Fišer took his first steps as a violinist under the guidance of Hana Metelková, and he later studied at the Prague Conservatoire under Jaroslav Foltýn. He went through the famed summer programme of the Meadowmount School of Music three times, where he also met his future teacher, the concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Andrés J. Cárdenes. It was in the studio of that important professor who continued the great Ysaÿe–Gingold–Cárdenes tradition of violin pedagogy that Fišer graduated from the Carnegie Mellon University School of Music in Pittsburgh in 2003.

Just when he was deciding whether to remain in the USA or to return to the Czech Republic, the Prague Philharmonia announced an audition for the position of concertmaster. Fišer won the job and stayed with the orchestra for a full sixteen years, until he left the first chair of the Prague Philharmonia for the same position with the Czech Philharmonic, where he remains to this day alongside Jan Mráček and Jiří Vodička. He has also appeared as a guest concertmaster with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony, and the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern; he also collaborates with important Czech orchestras as a soloist (Prague Philharmonia, Janáček Philharmonic in Ostrava etc.). He has assumed the role of artistic director of the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra. 

Besides engaging in a wealth of orchestral and solo activities, he also devotes himself actively to playing chamber music. With pianist Ivo Kahánek and cellist Tomáš Jamník, he belongs to the Dvořák Trio, which has already enjoyed many successes at competitions (such as the Bohuslav Martinů Competition) and on concert stages both at home and abroad. Jan Fišer has appeared at festivals abroad and in famed concert halls worldwide not only as a soloist, but also as a chamber music player. For example, the Dvořák Trio has made guest appearances at the Dresden Music Festival and at renowned concert halls like the Berlin Philharmonie and Hamburg’s Elbephilharmonie.

Fišer’s French violin from the early 19th century is attributed to the violinmaker François-Louis Pique; the instrument has also been heard in recording studios: Jan Fišer records for television and radio, and he was one of the five laureates to take part in recording the CD “A Tribute to Jaroslav Kocian” for the 40th anniversary of the Kocian International Violin Competition. He is also following in his father’s footsteps as a pedagogue, serving as one of the mentors for the MenART scholarship academy, and he regularly teaches at music courses including the Ševčík Academy in Horažďovice and the Telč Music Academy.