One of the most important and sought-after Czech violinists and the concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic Jiří Vodička has excelled in a number of competitions since very early on (such as the J. Kocian International Violin Competition and Prague Junior Note). In 2002, he also won the award for best participant in the violin courses led by Václav Hudeček, with whom he subsequently performed in dozens of concerts throughout the Czech Republic. At the unusually early age of 14, he was admitted to the Institute for Artistic Studies at the University of Ostrava, where he studied under the renowned pedagogue Zdeněk Gola. He graduated in 2007 with a master’s degree. His success in competitions continued into adulthood, when he won, for example, the world-renowned Young Concert Artist (2008).
He has made solo appearances not only with Czech orchestras like the Prague Philharmonia or the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, but also with the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Westphalia, and the Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra. His professional activities are of greater breadth, however. His solo debut, Violino Solo (2014), was followed in 2024 by a double album featuring the complete works for violin and piano by Antonín Dvořák, recorded with pianist David Mareček, which earned prestigious accolades from international media, including Gramophone and the French magazine Diapason.
Crossover fans can hear him on his worldwide Vivaldianno tour. He has performed chamber music with the outstanding Czech pianists Ivo Kahánek, Ivan Klánský, and Miroslav Sekera. He regularly takes part at famous festivals, such as the Prague Spring, Janáček May, Grand festival of China and Choriner Musiksommer. In 2020, he founded The Trio, a group he forms together with pianist Martin Kasík and cellist Václav Petr, with whom he won the Vienna International Competition in 2021. Many of the concerts of the “Czech Paganini”, as Vodička is sometimes called because of his extraordinary technical skill, have been recorded by Czech Television, Czech Radio, or the German broadcasting company ARD. Besides all of that he teaches at the University of Ostrava.
In the 2025–2026 season, Jiří Vodička performed works from both the international and Czech repertoires and built upon successful collaborations from previous years. He performed in a dual role as both soloist and conductor with the Moravian Philharmonic in Olomouc and appeared with the Czech Philharmonic in Korngold’s Violin Concerto as part of the Karlovy Vary variations. A major event of the spring of 2026 was the collaboration with the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, with whom he recorded a new solo album for the Supraphon label under the baton of Robert Kružík. In the realm of chamber music, he can also be heard in numerous projects, such as the thematically diverse series In the Footsteps of Antonín Dvořák or the dialogue between two violinists titled Two masters, one stage, in which Jiří Vodička performs alongside his colleague and fellow concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic, Jan Mráček.
He plays Italian violin made by Joseph Gagliano in 1774 which he received for long-term use from the Czech Philharmonic’s former chief conductor Jiří Bělohlávek.
