Ivan Vokáč


Instrument
cello

In Czech Philharmonic
since January 2014

Also plays in
Lobkowicz Trio
Prague Cello Quartet
Escualo Quintet

Photo illustrating page

He started playing the cello as a child, first attended private lessons with Professor Oldřich Kavale, then studied at the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with Professor Miroslav Petráš. He attended masterclass courses in Kronberg (Germany) with S. Isserlis and B. Pergamenschikow and in Pilsen (Czech Republic) with R. Wallfisch. As a soloist, he has appeared at many festivals in the Czech Republic (Talich’s Beroun, Young Prague, Young Stage) as well as abroad (Festival l'Eté Musical en Bergerac in France, Music Home Alive Festival in the Netherlands). He regularly collaborates with the Czech Radio and the Czech TV.

He is the laureate of many international interpretation competitions. Among his greatest achievements are victories in Liezen (Austria, 2002), Dotzauer Competition in Dresden (Germany, 2005), Bohuslav Martinů competition in Prague (2008) and the overall winner title he received together with violinist Jakub Junek at Concertino Praga 2006. In 2010, he won the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe scholarship and in 2012, he was a semi-finalist of the Prague Spring International Competition which made him the most successful Czech contestant. In 2013, he crowned his competition career winning the Leoš Janáček International Competition in Brno.

With the Taras Piano Trio, he won the Internationaler Johannes Brahms Wettbewerb competition (Pörtschach, Austria) in 2007 and Rovere d'Oro (San Bartolomeo, Italy) in 2008. With the Lobkowicz Trio, he won the 3rd prize and the award for the best performance of composition by Antonín Dvořák at the Antonín Dvořák International Chamber Music Competition and the 1st prize at the Johannes Brahms International Competition (Pörtschachu, Austria). The ensemble also won the Czech Chamber Music Society Award 2017. Besides playing the cello, he is the pianist of the Escualo Quintet.

Bohuslav Martinů’s music has always been very close to his heart but he has recently also fallen for Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”. His secret passion is jazz.

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