2 October 2023, St Agnes Convent, Prague
JAN BARTOŠ
Jan Bartoš performs at solo recitals, with major orchestras, and in chamber ensembles around the world. The international press has dubbed him “one of the greatest pianists of Europe”, and his recordings have earned wide-ranging praise from critics at Gramophone, Diapason, BBC Music Magazine, or the American Record Guide. He has made a name for himself for his emotional interpretations resplendent with warm yet lucid tones. His profound and meticulously crafted programming is also highly valued. This last pupil of the legendary pianist Ivan Moravec returns to Influencers of Resonance after a four-year break with a repertoire built from his newest recording from February 2023, in which he presents the piano works of Miloslav Kabeláč and Bedřich Smetana. BBC Music Magazine lauded the album as “one of the best and certainly most stimulating recordings of Czech piano music of recent years”.
Besides Ivan Moravec, who headed his doctoral studies at the Academy of Music in Prague, Bartoš’s influences include international mentors such as Marcel Baudet, Alfred Brendel, Leon Fleisher, James Tocco, or Zenon Fishbein. He deepened his chamber music skills under Robert Mann (Juilliard String Quartet) and Lawrence Dutton (Emerson String Quartet). Jan Bartoš made his debut at the age of 14 with the Prague Philharmonia led by Jiří Bělohlávek, who also conducted the Czech Philharmonic when it accompanied Bartoš for his debut Supraphon CD of Mozart’s piano concertos from 2017. Bartoš played with Bělohlávek at his last concert in Polička in June 2017, where they performed Bohuslav Martinů’s Double Concerto with the Prague Philharmonia.
Bartoš’s albums always garner enthusiastic reviews. For example, his recording of the complete piano works of Leoš Janáček earned Editor’s Choice from Gramophone and Best Album of 2019 from MusicWeb. America’s NPR listed it among the “10 Classical Albums To Usher In The Next Decade”. The first studio recording of Vítězslav Novák’s Piano Concerto with Jakub Hrůša and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra won an Anděl Award for Best Classical Album of 2020.
Some of Bartoš’s recent performances include a guest appearance at the International Piano Festival in San Francisco, a sold-out concert at the Bohemian National Hall in New York, a recital in the digital version of the Hong Kong Arts Festival, a return to the Prague Spring, and a solo recital at the Rudolf Firkušný Piano Festival. It is Firkušný, regarded as one of the world’s greatest pianists of the twentieth century, whose name is most frequently mentioned in connection with the brilliant quality of Jan Bartoš’s performative art.
Jan Bartoš is the founder and director of Prague Music Performance, an innovative international festival and institution that organises concerts in all genres, as well as masterclasses, lectures, and residencies. He serves as the artistic director of the international festival Music is (previously the American Spring) and the Ivan Moravec Academy. He has also taught piano and chamber music at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague since 2020.
