Jan Keller

He studied at the Prague Conservatory with Professor Jaroslav Kulhan and graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in Professor Josef Chuchro’s class. He has attended masterclass courses with Miloš Mlejnik in Klagenfurt (Austria) and Raphael Wallfisch in London. He played in the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1998–2010 and has taught at the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory in Prague since 2016.

He likes chamber (and other) music but considers jazz to be a vital counterweight to classical music. With various jazz ensembles, he can alternate the cello and bass guitar. His band the Night Sight has been playing with more or less unchanged line-up since 2002, mainly focusing on their own compositions. They have already recorded six CDs.

Since 2008, he has been collaborating with jazz singer Jana Koubková in her quartet and has recorded live CD Jana Koubková 65 and studio recordings Mýdlové bubliny (Soap Bubbles) and A tak si jdu... (And so I Go...)

In 2012, he recorded a CD featuring poems by Czech poet Bohuslav Reynek put into music together with Transitus Irregularis ensemble and guitarist Miroslav Nosek. The Petrkov publishing house released the recording with a book of poems and graphics by Reynek under the title Pod prahem svítá.

He likes various music genres and his playlist includes Lenka Dusilová, Zuzana Navarová, Suzanne Vega, Jan Spálený, Dežo Ursiny, Vladimír Mišík, Sting, Eric Clapton, classical composer Bohuslav Martinů, Leszek Możdżer, Lars Danielsson, Herbie Hancock, Jimi Hendrix and many others.