Summer Concerts • Lobkowicz trio

All three members of Lobkowicz Trio are renowned soloists and chamber players. The ensemble embraced their experience from many stages home and abroad on the International Johannes Brahms Competition 2014 in Pörtschach, Austria, where they won the First Prize and the Prize of the Audience.
The ensemble performed at prestigious festivals in Czech Republic, (Prague Spring, Dvorak´s Prague, Janáček´s May) Austria, (Neues Künstlerforum) Italy (Il Timbro festival) and Germany. Respected website operaplus.cz marked Lobkowicz Trio concert in Prague with 100% and consider them as one of the most promising czech chamber ensembles.
Thanks to their coordination, convincing interpretation, precise technical level and refined intonation, the ensemble attracts recognition of the audiences and the professional community alike.
The ensemble's name points to a traditional connection of Lobkowicz house with many composers of the 18th and 19th centuries. Ludwig van Beethoven dedicated his Triple Concerto for piano, violin, violoncello and orchestra, one of the highlights of trio repertoire, to the Prince Lobkowicz. The ensemble received permission to use this name from Mr. Jaroslav Lobkowicz.

The Czech violinist Jan Mráček was born in 1991 in Pilsen and began studying violin at the age of five with Magdaléna Micková. From 2003 he studied with Jiří Fišer, graduating with honors from the Prague Conservatory in 2013, and until recently at the University of Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna under the guidance of the Vienna Symphony concertmaster Jan Pospíchal.

As a teenager he enjoyed his first major successes, winning numerous competitions, participating in the master classes of Maestro Václav Hudeček – the beginning of a long and fruitful association. He won the Czech National Conservatory Competition in 2008, the Hradec International Competition with the Dvořák concerto and the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra in 2009, was the youngest Laureate of the Prague Spring International Festival competition in 2010, and in 2011 he became the youngest soloist in the history of the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2014 he was awarded first prize at Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition at the Vienna Konzerthaus. When the victory of Jan Mráček was confirmed, there was thunderous applause from the audience and the jury. The jury president announced, “Jan is a worthy winner. He has fascinated us from the first round. Not only with his technical skills, but also with his charisma on stage.”

Jan Mráček has performed as a soloist with world’s orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Symphony of Florida, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, Kuopio Symphony Orchestra, Romanian Radio Symphony, Lappeenranta City Orchestra (Finland) as well as the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra (FOK), Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra and almost all Czech regional orchestras.

Jan Mráček had the honor of being invited by Maestro Jiří Bělohlávek to guest lead the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in their three concert residency at Vienna’s Musikverein, and the European Youth Orchestra under Gianandrea Noseda and Xian Zhang on their 2015 summer tour. He has been a concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic since 2018.

In 2008 he joined the Lobkowicz Piano Trio, which was awarded first prize and the audience prize at the International Johannes Brahms Competition in Pörtschach, Austria in 2014.

His recording of the Dvořák violin concerto and other works by this Czech composer under James Judd with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra was recently released on the Onyx label and has received excellent reviews.

Jan Mráček plays on a Carlo Fernando Landolfi violin, Milan 1758, generously loaned to him by Mr Peter Biddulph.

Ivan Vokáč has been a member of the Czech Philharmonic’s cello section since January 2014. He graduated from Prague Conservatory and the Music Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts under Miroslav Petráš, and has taken masterclasses in Kronberg (with Steven Isserlis and Boris Pergamenshchikov) and Plzeň (with Raphael Wallfisch).

As a soloist he has appeared at a number of festivals both in the Czech Republic (Talichův Beroun, Mladá Praha and Mladé pódium) and abroad (Festival lʼEté Musical en Bergerac in France and Music Home Alive Festival in the Netherlands). He is a member of three chamber ensembles: Lobkowicz Trio, Prague Cello Quartet and Escualo Quintet, playing piano in the last. He has regularly appeared on Czech Radio and Television.

Ivan Vokáč has been awarded many prizes in international competitions, of which the most important include those won in Liezen, Austria in 2002, in the Dotzauer competition in Dresden in 2005 and at the Bohuslav Martinů competition in Prague in 2008. In 2006, together with Jakub Junek on violin, he was the overall winner of the radio competition Concertino Praga. In 2010 he won a scholarship from Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe, and in 2012 he was a semi-finalist and the most successful Czech participant in the international competition Prague Spring. Most recently he has won the International Leoš Janáček Competition in Brno in 2013.

As a member of Taras Piano Trio he has received top prizes at international competitions “Internationaler Johannes Brahms Wettbewerb” (in Pörtschach, Austria, 2007) and “Rovere dʼOro” (San Bartolomeo, Italy, 2008).

As a member of Lobkowicz Trio he was acclaimed at the Antonín Dvořák international chamber music competition (third prize and special award for best performance of a piece by Dvořák) and won for a second time the first prize at international Johannes Brahms competition in Pörtschach, Austria.