Ondřej Balcar

He started playing the double bass with his father Jan Balcar and continued at the Prague Conservatory with Václav Fuka. He graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in Professor Jiří Hudec’s class. While studying, he attended various interpretation courses and private lessons with Eduard Melkus, František Pošta, Zdeněk Benda, Uzi Wiezel and others.

Between 2000 and 2003, he has collaborated with Berlin-based Mahler Chamber Orchestra. He has also worked with many leading classical musicians, including Gil Shaham, Shlomo Mintz and Antonello Manacorda. Since 2006, he has been spending a lot of time with Baroque music. He regularly plays with Collegium Marianum, Collegium 1704, Ensemble Inégal, Czech Ensemble Baroque, Schirokko Hamburg Ensemble, Ensemble Marsyas and others. He has created Baroque music recordings with famous soloists, such as Sergio Azzolini, Xenia Loeffler, Jana Semerádová, Lenka Torgersen.

Besides his musical career, he is also a visual artist. He published the book Hudba v obrazech (Music in Pictures) and illustrated others. In 1994, he became a member of the Syndicate of Visual Artists and the association of Prague visual artists. He has had over 40 solo exhibitions in the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Netherlands and Ireland.