Petr Ries

In 1993–1999, he studied at the conservatory in České Budějovice and later in Kroměříž. He continued at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague between 2000 and 2005, studying with Professor Jiří Hudec. He also completed a study stay at the prestigious Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique Paris with Professor Jean-Paul Celea. As a soloist, he has performed with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Chamber Soloists, Mecklenburgisches Kammerorchester and Plzeň Philharmonic Orchestra. He regularly appears in solo concerts. He is the laureate of many competitions, including the Moravian Autumn in Brno (Czech Republic, 1998 and 2003), International Musikwettbewerb in Markneukirchen (Germany, 1999), Internationale J. M. Sperger Musikwettbewerb in Michaelstein (Germany, 2002) and the Talent of the Year 2002.

Besides classical music, he is also interested in folk music (he played in the Ondráš ensemble in Brno) and has played with the Czech Philharmonic Jazz Band since 2010. In 2011, he was a guest principal double bass player of Staatskapelle Dresden and was invited to play at the same post in NDR Symfonieorchester in Hamburg. He joined the Czech Philharmonic in 2004 as the associate principal double bass played. He is a popular chamber musician, currently performs with the Prague Chamber Soloists conducted by Radek Baborák and Haydn Ensemble with Martin Petrák. He has taught at the International Conservatory Prague. Since 2003, he has been teaching at the Czech Music Society’s summer courses in Litomyšl (originally Bechyně) and he is a lector of the Orchestral Academy of the Czech Philharmonic.

He gets often invited to join competition juries and participate at various masterclass courses. He likes the opera Její pastorkyňa or the cycle Po zarostlém chodníčku by Leoš Janáček, Goldberg Variations by J. S. Bach and Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8. He usually listens to jazz, including Diana Krall, Lars Danielsson, Pat Metheny, Chick Corea and Tomáš Liška. He enjoys spending free time in the nature with his family, fishing and relaxing with good tobacco in one of his pipes and a glass of nice wine. In his workshop, he likes to work with wood and makes puppets. When it comes to sports, he likes to ride a scooter.