Jaroslav Pondělíček

He started attending violin lessons at the age of eight, first in the Music School in Kadaň and later in Chomutov. He studied the violin at the Teplice Conservatory. After the two-year compulsory military service, he was enrolled at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in the viola class of Professor Milan Škampa, member of the Smetana Quartet. Thanks to an internship, he already played in the Czech Philharmonic as a student and joined the orchestra as a full-time member immediately after graduation. He became the deputy section leader in 1990 and the section leader of the violas in 2003.

Since the early 1990s, he has been an active chamber musician and a member of the Czech Philharmonic Sextet. He has also been performing with the String Quartet and String Trio for a number of years, mainly in Japan. He has appeared in many concerts in Japan and elsewhere with Pro Arte Antiqua Prague, an ensemble focusing on early music. He occasionally performs as a soloist.