The pianist and composer Vít Křišťan is active in many projects, both his own and those of various bandleaders, such as Robert Balzar, Dan Bárta, Jaromír Honzák, or Marta Kloučková. He also shares his signature style in the musical direction of bands in which he is a “mere” member. Other ensembles he cooperates with are based on a similar principle, be it the quintet Inner Spaces, or the group of composers known as The Prague Six, which writes music for Štěpánka Balcarová’s Concept Art Orchestra. It was this big band that premiered Křišťan’s suite Mandala in May 2023 alongside the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. The work combines intricately interwoven passages with opportunities for improvisation. Improvisation and the power of the present moment will be in abundant supply during the pianist’s distinctively styled recital in the 6th series of Influencers of Resonance.

Vít Křišťan is known as a jazz pianist, but he actually focused on classical music for many years – first at the children’s art school in Humpolec and later under the guidance of Irina Kondratěnko. His journey with the jazz piano began in the class of Jiží Růžička and Ondřej Kabrna at the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatoire. He studied jazz at the university level at the well-known jazz academy in Katowice, Poland, and later in Odense, Denmark. Yet he would frequently revisit classical music influenced, among others, by the elite jazz pianist Brad Mehldau, whose masterclass he attended. His sources of inspiration include the legendary pianist and composer Bill Evans – Křišťan admits to have gone “bonkers” for Evans’ Waltz for Debby when he was about 16, which led him to choose jazz for his piano studies.

Vít Křišťan has performed at practically all the major jazz festivals in the world (Copenhagen, London, Edinburgh, Muri, Klaipėda, Afyon, Paris, Bautzen, Salzburg…). Poland, one of the “world powers” of jazz, has hosted him in Sopot, Gdynia, Kraków, Łódź, Warsaw, Jelenia Góra, and Wrocław at Jazz on the Oder, where he was recognised as second best festival player in 2009. The list of foreign musicians he has worked with is dumbfounding – Bo Stief, Niels Berg, Hugo Rasmussen, Shayna Steele, Marc Bernstein, Veronika Harcsa, Grzegorz Karnas, András Dés, to name but a few…

He has released two signature albums with Animal Music – his 2013 debut Imprints and the trio project Török – Slavík – Křišťan in 2017. He has participated in numerous other recordings both as a player and, in part, as a composer; four of them won Anděl Awards for Best Czech Jazz Album of the Year (Early Music and Uncertainty by Jaromír Honzák, Light Year by Inner Spaces, and Prague Six by the Concept Art Orchestra). In 2019 he premiered his Concerto for Piano and Jazz Orchestra with the Concept Art Orchestra. In 2022 he was the improvisational pianist at the world premiere of Martin Brunner and Markéta Foukalová’s song cycle Svou chvíli (Your Moment).

Vít Křišťan is also in much demand as an educator – he teaches at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno and the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatoire and College in Prague. He has lectured at jazz seminars and workshops in Denmark, Germany, Poland, South Korea, Serbia, and Georgia.