KAREL KOŠÁREK

Karel Košárek has the reputation of a pianist with an extraordinary scope of concert activities; he is also in high demand as a chamber musician. He works with famous orchestras and leading Czech singers, especially Magdalena Kožená, Roman Janál, or Soňa Červená, and he accompanies renowned instrumentalists the likes of Jiří Bárta or Radek Baborák. He is prised for interpretation of modern works from the twentieth century, such as those composed by Benjamin Britten, George Gershwin, Dmitri Shostakovich, Bohuslav Martinů, or Leonard Bernstein. He often premieres contemporary music.

Karel Košárek (*1961) graduated from the conservatoires in Kroměříž and in Prague in the class of Prof. Valentina Kameníková, followed by studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He concluded his education in the US at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He is a laureate of numerous international competitions, including the Smetana International Piano Competition, the International Young Artist Competition in Corpus Christi, or the Walter Naumburg Competition in New York. Some of his greatest solo achievements include his performance with the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra under Tomáš Hanus at Prague Spring in 2003, where he interpreted Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Another prestigious project in collaboration with the Škampa Quartet (again at Prague Spring) saw him perform Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G minor.

His recording activities are no less momentous, and he has worked with a number of major labels (Supraphon, Hyperion, Etcetera, Naxos). His first solo recording comprised compositions by Smetana, Martinů, Barber, and Gerschwin; a highly prised album is Gypsy Melodies (with Roman Janál). Several works recorded as world premieres can be found on his live recital CD with piano compositions by Bohuslav Martinů; “Labyrint” contains the premiere recording of Petr Eben’s Piano Quintet. In recent years Karel Košárek has also devoted himself to music programming – he is one of the key initiators and the artistic director of the unique festival Musica Holešov, which has earned a very solid reputation in the nine years of its existence.