Petra Čermáková

She started attending French horn classes at the age of 11 in the local music school in Klášterec nad Ohří (Czech Republic). In 1991–1997, she studied at the Teplice Conservatory with Stanislav Schulz and Karel Šimek. For her school-leaving concert, she performed Concerto for French Horn No. 2 by Richard Strauss with the North Czech Philharmonic Teplice. She continued at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in 1997–2002 with Professor Zdeněk Tylšar.

She celebrated success at a number of national and international competitions during her studies. In 1994, she won the 1^st prize at the 18^th Conservatories Competition in the wind instrument category. In the following year, she won the 1^st prize at the Czech and Slovak Interpretation Competition “Brno 95”. In 1996, she won the International Interpretation Competition of French horn players in Brno, also taking the Mayor of the City of Brno Award for the most successful Czech contestant and the Hornforum Award (of the Czech French Horn Society of Jan Václav Stich-Punto in Žehušice) for the best performance of a concerto by Stich-Punto.

Besides playing in the Czech Philharmonic, she collaborates with the North Czech Philharmonic Teplice and Virtuosi di Praga. As a chamber musician, she regularly performs with Corni Delicanti and the Czech Horn Quartet.