PETROF Art Family is a free association of professional pianists and well-known artists who support the PETROF company and admire the quality and beauty of our instruments. The aim of the association is to bring together talented artists across musical genres and arrange musical experiences for audiences the world over.
The brilliant Czech pianist Jitka Čechová has been decorated with a host of awards both here and abroad for the quality of her performances. Her repertoire focuses on the works of Czech composers, with Bedřich Smetana being the closest to her musical heart. One of the latest achievements of the Smetana Trio is winning the prestigious BBC Music Magazine Award in March 2017 for their recording of Martinů, made in the Studio Martinek in Prague on a PI Orchestra piano from 1979.
One of the best Argentinian pianists. He is regarded as the world’s leading specialist in the work of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, which he has spent a significant part of his professional life studying. Critics admire in particular his brilliant technical skill and the profundity of his interpretation.
The acclaimed Czech pianist Jitka Fowler Fraňková has a particularly fine technique, and her specialty is romantic classical music. The repertoire of this original artist is nonetheless very wide. She entrances musical connoisseurs with her sensitive rendering of the works of many composers.
An excellent and renowned pedagogue in his field. He taught courses of piano at various prestigious musical universities all over the world. The lightness and freshness of his interpretation are fully expressed for example in jazz etudes of Milan Dvořák that he has recorded playing the ANT. PETROF 275 piano.
As a performer of exceptional emotional force and depth, Ivo Kahánek has gained the reputation of being one of the most impressive artists of his generation and is regarded by many as the best contemporary Czech pianist. Through his talent he is able to create an emotional bond with his audience in works ranging from baroque to modern, his main focus being the romantic repertoire. Abroad he is also considered a specialist in the performance of Czech music.
Karel Košárek is a much sought-after Czech pianist who appears not only as a soloist but also with leading orchestras. A graduate of the Musical Faculty of the Prague Academy of Performing Arts and the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, he is a winner of the Smetana Piano Competition and the Corpus Christi Piano Competition, and a prizewinner of the Walter Naumburg Competition in New York. Recitals at previous seasons in New York, Dallas, Palm Beach, Calgary, Tel Aviv, St. Petersburg, and Bangkok, as well as concert appearances in Europe and Japan, indicate the scope of his international artistic activity.
Vít Kříšťan is one of the most talented jazz piano players on the Czech scene. Besides teaching and recording CDs he regularly performs in concerts and is involved in many musical projects. One of the latest great achievements is an album from the Prague six project which was recorded in co-operation with the Czech Concept Art Orchestra big band and was recognized with the Anděl award for the best jazz album of the year 2015.
PETROF PIANOS TRIO was created in 2009 by Wihan Quartet violinist, Jan Schulmeister. The members are renowned chamber music players and together bring to the ensemble over thirty years of expe¬rience of concert activity. In the same year as it was formed, the ensemble became the resident trio of the PET¬ROF Piano Company. The company, known for its long tradition and quality, immediately recognized that The Petrof Trio was an ensemble whose performances were at the highest level, and was keen to support it.
A significant Czech composer and pianist who has composed music for nearly 200 movies, series, plays, and productions. His repertoire is very broad. He’s most inclined towards jazz but he also stands out in classical, popular, film, and scenic music.
The conductor Debashish Chaudhuri's deep musical emotion and thrilling performances stem from his unique blending of Indian and European culture. He has a rich symphonic repertoire and enjoys discovering symphonic works of interest inspired by India or Asia.
Jana Chaudhuri is one of the outstanding talents of the coming generation of pianists. She feels music very deeply, arousing passion in every note she plays. In addition to playing solo, she is intensely committed to playing chamber music and regularly works with well-known Czech orchestras.
Tomáš is the ultimate professional. Alongside his excellent piano playing, he also goes in for singing. A succession of awards in singing competitions speaks for his qualities. As a composer of incidental music, he works with J.A. Pitinský and is currently studying “Musicology” in Olomouc. In 2016 he gained the second prize at the national Pianist of the Year competition in Prague. This year he represented the PETROF company with a P 173 Breeze at the Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro.
Matyáš’s stock in trade is the most virtuosic works of the romantic period. He wins over his audience with his amazing feeling for the nuances of the concerto. In his performances of Liszt in particular he brings his technical brilliance and accuracy to the fore. It comes as no surprise that they regularly win first prize in many national and international competitions. Their latest victory at the BRADSHAW & BUONO INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION opened the door to the most famous concert hall in the world, Carnegie Hall, where they appeared in 2017.
The concert-DUO PETROF is where the brilliant pianists Anatoly Zatin and Vlada Vassilieva show off their skills. Their duet-playing is a favorite with audiences in America, Europe, and Asia. The characteristic dynamism, originality, and creativity of this duo are captivating. Together they have set new standards in duet-playing, which they also showed to perfection at Carnegie Hall. Their latest album “DUO PETROF plays ANT. PETROF”, which came out in April 2017, was made in close collaboration with our company.
Jan is a Czech pianist from the Černý-Schulmeister family who are well-known in music. He is one of the youngest members of the PETROF Art Family. He has been playing the piano since he was five years old. To this day, Jan has over 30 first places and other extraordinary awards from national and international competitions. Also, he accepted invitations to perform in major Czech music festivals, such as the Prague Spring and Smetana's Litomyšl.
Jan Smigmator is a jazz and swing singer, an embodiment of the connection between the music of the 21st century and swing kings like Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, Mel Tormé, Karel Hala, or the still-fantastic Tony Bennett! His voice, style, phrasing, and love for the music rank him among the leading contemporary jazz and swing performers in Europe.
Jan brings to the PETROF Art Family a breath of fresh air and demonstrates that this group of artists is open to all genres. He moves around between several genres and skillfully combines the seemingly incompatible. His activities, whether as a performer or a composer, reveal the extent of his invention and originality.
This French pianist, who has Czech roots, composes and improvises music based on the emotions that he encounters every day. His Czech inheritance shines out above all in the form of the best-selling album “Slow Down”, available as a CD, but also immortalized in blue vinyl in Loděnice, the oldest and biggest vinyl factory in the world. He performed the pieces on the album “Slow Down” live at the Czech embassy in Paris during the ceremony to mark the arrival of the new ambassador Peter Drulák.
Richard Pohl is a Czech pianist and teacher. After graduating from the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno and performing extensively he decided to take up a new challenge bringing Czech piano music to China. Subsequently, he performed recitals of Czech piano music and lecture recitals in many Chinese provinces receiving great critical acclaim.
Xingxing Wang – Pohlová is a Chinese soprano. She has studied in New Zealand and Germany and performed worldwide both on stage and with an orchestra. She has also been a frequent recitalist, presenting her main music passion – the art song repertoire. She has performed several hundred art songs in several languages. In addition, she shines on both opera and musical stage and performs even jazz standards and traditional Chinese music with passion and skill.
Lukáš Klánský is one of the most significant and desirable Czech pianists of the young generation. He has become the most requested soloist and chamber musician thanks to his numerous awards from various international competitions and many successful performances at festivals in the Czech Republic and all-around Europe. He is a member of the successful Lobkowicz trio and regularly performs with leading Czech artists, such as Václav Hudeček, Kateřina Javůrková, Jana Boušková or the world-famous Pražák Quartet.
Ema is a Czech-Macedonian pianist and teacher, a member of the ČSVA, a member of the Club of Moravian Composers, and an artistic director and chairwoman of the Intercultural Creative Life Association. She finished her studies at FMU in Skopje in Macedonia, in the class of Professor Stela Slejanská, and at JAMU in Brno in the Czech Republic, under the leadership of professor Zdeněk Hnát. Norma Fisher, her professor from London's Royal College of Music, instructed her even further.
Yuval Salomon is a classical pianist and arranger. She has been playing the piano since age 9 and studied music at high school. In 2016 she opened her YouTube channel, which includes her own arrangements for popular songs and classical performances through cinematic videos. Her channel has already reached more than 245,000 subscribers and millions of views from all over the world.
Chinese pianist Fiona Guo began her piano lessons at the age of 4. She engaged in her music career under the guidance of Hong Yuhui and Shi Shucheng. She graduated from the Department of Musicology of the Communication University of China. In the Thornton School of music at the University of Southern California, she studied piano performance with Professor Antoinette Perry. In 2015, she won the first prize in the Lansum International Piano Competition.
Russian pianist Alexandra Kuznetsova, who goes by the artist name Gamazda, was born in Moscow in a family of musicians. She began playing the piano at the age of 3. In 2014, she graduated with honours from the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory and is a laureate of all-Russian and international competitions.
Karim Kamar is a contemporary classical pianist & composer from London. He has been performing as a solo pianist since 2013 and has built a reputation as an outstanding and unique composer and performer, having played at almost every major music venue in London including The Jazz Cafe, The Forge, Ronnie Scotts and The Royal Albert Hall.
Michal Horák is a young singer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist. In addition to music, he also pursues studies at the Faculty of Education, Charles University. In 2021, he won the popularity poll in the category Discovery of the Year in the Český Slavík 21. He attracts his fans with a sense of situational humor, sympathetic easy-going, and the ability to capture everyday life with humor and aptness.
Jiří Pavlík is a musician, multi-instrumentalist, moderator, and pedagogue from Hradec Králové. He learned to play many instruments such as the piano, guitar, clarinet, and saxophone throughout his life. In 1986 he became a member of BigBand of Miroslav Mužík. Since 2012, Jiří himself has conducted this orchestra under the name BigBand of Jiří Pavlík.
Norbert Daniš has been playing the piano since he was four years old and could read sheet music almost as well as children's books. He first started to play the piano under the guidance of his father. Later, he attended an art school, from which he graduated with honors as the best student.
At the age of four, began to learn piano with famous conductor Jin Chenghua and then Guan Changxin. Competitions and results of excellence at a young age: Hope Cup: First place Heintzman Cup: Grand Prize Xinghai Cup (professional group): Second place Hong Kong Open: First place During middle school, she also won the full scholarship to the Eastman School of Music in the United States and the Schubert School of Music in Austria.
Edoardo Brugnoli is an italian pianist, teacher and arranger. Despite being classically trained, in the last years he began to be interested in modern music, in particular anime music and soundtracks.
Terezie Fialová is one of the leading Czech pianists. She studied solo piano at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and chamber music at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. She has performed on international stages such as Munich's Gasteig, the Louvre Auditorium in Paris, the Kennedy Center in Washington, the Oriental Arts Center in Shanghai, and the Swiss Vevey.
Bai Jingzhi is a famous pianist and educator in China, and awarded and considered to be one of the young talents in Beijing, and a teacher in the Piano Department of the Music College of Capital Normal University. In recent years, Mr. Bai has been an active pianist in many fields, including chamber music performance, multi-piano ensemble, and piano solo.
Klára, a promising young pianist, was introduced to music by her older sisters, who played the flute and the clarinet. Even before she turned three, she accompanied them and started learning children's songs and Christmas carols. Afterward, Professor Taťána Vejvodová took her under her wing, gradually increased her private lessons, and directed Klara toward her first concerts and competitions. Klara excelled at several international piano competitions in Rome, Bern, Brussels, and Paris.
Liu Aile, born in a musical family, graduated from the Ukrainian National Tchaikovsky Academy of Music and continued to study jazz piano from jazz guitarist Zhao Wei and jazz pianist Zheng Yuxing in Europe after returning to China. Afterwards, he studied at the Akademia Muzyczna w Krakowie in Poland from the famous European jazz pianist Piotr Wylezol and the Polish national treasure Joachim Mencel, and received his master’s degree.
The young pianist Nora Lubbadová is extraordinarily talented. At the age of four, she requested piano lessons and became a pupil of PaedDr. J. Šnederflerová. Currently, she is studying at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna under Professor Vladimir Kharin. So far, she has participated in dozens of competitions. At the age of seven, when she first performed with an orchestra, she was so enchanted that she wanted to stay on stage.
Alisa-Mariia Vorokh is one of the most promising Ukrainian young pianists. Living in Odesa she is a student of Iryna Didushok. Her mother is a opera singer, her father is a songwriter and composer. Laureate (1 place, piano) of the international competitions such as: “Talants” (Kyiv, Ukraine, 2022), King’s Pick International Music Competition (California, USA, 2021), “Estrellas Brillantes”(Spain, 2021) and others.
Karel Havlíček is a composer and multi-instrumentalist from the Czech Republic. Beside The Czech Republic, he also spends his time in Los Angeles. For the past few years, he has focused on composing music for TV series and movies. His work has appeared in HBO Europe, American streaming services, and Czech TV series. In addition, Karel has composed music for numerous foreign and Czech commercials and created original music for TV stations, theater plays, and charity spots.
There are always gifted instrumentalists who manage to move people with their instrument alone. Thomas Krüger from Berlin is one of these musicians. At the piano, he is able to captivate and inspire listeners with his playing. Like so often in real life, his talent alone did not help him achieve his breakthrough. It was a study trip to Paris that brought the turning point in Thomas Krüger's career.
Should you be interested in any PAF member, or would like more information on the project, do not hesitate to contact us at lorencova@petrofgallery.cz.
