The Czech Philharmonic Piano Trio is a young chamber ensemble composed of top musicians – violin virtuoso Jiří Vodička, cello winner of the Prague Spring Václav Petr, and fantastic pianist Martin Kasík.
The trio was founded in the spring of 2020. During its first year of operation, it recorded Josef Suk’s Elegy, which was played by more than a hundred thousand times on the social media of the international radio station Classic FM. In addition to this piece, it also created an excellent audiovisual recording of Bohuslav Martinů’s Bergerettes. With this, it won first place in the International Vienna Music Competition and, thanks to this success, opened the 2021/2022 season with a concert at the famous Musikverein in Vienna.
All three members of the trio are recognized soloists.
Violinist Jiří Vodička has won many Czech and international competitions, is a laureate of the Classic Prague Awards, and is a soloist recognized by critics.
Jiří Vodička (Violin)
Jiří Vodička is a distinguished Czech violin soloist, chamber musician, and concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic. His exceptional talent has been evident since childhood, marked by numerous competition victories, including the International Josef Kocian Violin Competition, Prague Junior Note, and Čírenie talentov in Slovakia.
At the age of 14, he was exceptionally admitted to the Institute for Art Studies in Ostrava, studying under Professor Zdeněk Gola, and completed his master’s degree there in 2007.
Vodička has performed as a soloist with many prominent Czech and international orchestras. In 2015, he became the concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic. He also serves as a pedagogue at the Prague Conservatory and the University of Ostrava.
In 2014, he released his debut solo album, “Violino Solo,” featuring some of the most challenging pieces for solo violin. Many of his concerts have been recorded by Czech Television, Czech Radio, and Germany’s ARD. As a chamber musician, he collaborates with outstanding Czech pianists. He is regularly invited to major festivals; notably, in 2011, he was invited by the renowned violinist Gidon Kremer to the Kammermusikfest in Lockenhaus, Austria.
In 2020, he founded the Czech Philharmonic Piano Trio, with which he won the Vienna International Music Competition in 2021. Their recordings on social media have garnered tens of thousands of views.
In 2024, under the Supraphon label, he released an album featuring the complete works of Antonín Dvořák for violin and piano. This recording received international acclaim, earning excellent reviews in foreign media, including The Gramophone, Choc de Classica, and a five-star rating in the French magazine Diapason.
Vodička also performs in globally successful audiovisual shows such as Vivaldianno and iMucha. He plays on an Italian instrument made by Joseph Gagliano in 1774.
Václav Petr (Cello)
Ranks among the most prominent Czech cellists of his generation. He is a semifinalist of Grand Prix Emannuel Feurmann competition and a winner of the 70th edition of the prestigious international competition Prague Spring. He began picking up awards from an early age performing at a wide range of competitions including the International Heran Cello Competition and the International Cello Competition in Linz, Austria. Particularly noteworthy accolades included collecting 1st prize from Prague Junior Note and becoming the absolute winner of the Talents for Europe competition.
He has also been awarded the laureate title at many other competitions: the Concertino Praga, the International David Popper Competition in Hungary, the International Antonio Janigro Competition in Croatia, the Bohuslav Martinů Competition in Prague, the International Dotzauer Competition for young cellists in Germany, and the Rudolf Matz International Competition for Strings in Dubrovnik.
Václav Petr learnt the nuts and bolts of cello playing from Mirek Škampa at the Jan Neruda Grammar School in Prague. At the Music Academy of Performing Arts he was a student in Daniel Veis’ class, going on to complete his studies with Michal Kaňka.
He has also perfected his playing under the guidance of Wolfgang Boettcher at the Universität der Künste in Berlin. In addition to the above, Václav Petr has also attended international masterclasses in Kronberg, Hamburg and Vaduz, the music academy in Bonn while was selected to attend Maria Kliegel’s class as part of The International Holland Music Sessions. In 2015 he took part in masterclass at the Carl Flesch Academy in Baden-Baden, delivering a solo performance with the Baden-Baden Philharmonic.
He has been performing as a soloist since he was 12, playing with orchestras such as the Czech Philharmonic, the PKF – Prague Philharmonia, the Prague Radio Symphonic Orchestra, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, Pilsen Philharmonic, the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, the Bohdan Warchal Slovak Chamber Orchestra and more.
Last but by no means least, Václav Petr is also an avid contributor to chamber music. A member of the Josef Suk Piano Quartet since 2009, with whom he picked up 1st prizes at a chamber ensemble competition in Val Tidone, Italy as well as the Salieri – Zinetti chamber ensembles competition and at a prestigious competition for chamber ensembles and piano – the “Premio Trio di Trieste”. He also regularly performs with the Josef Suk Piano Quartet both at home and abroad.
Back in October 2013 Václav Petr successfully auditioned for the position of concertmaster at the Czech Philharmonic. At just 24 years of age, this makes him one of the youngest concertmasters in the history of the Czech Philharmonic.
Václav Petr plays a cello from the workshop of Giovanni Battista Guadagnini nicknamed “Teschenmacher” which dates back to 1757, on loan from the private collection.
Martin Kasik (Piano)
Martin ranks among the foremost Czech pianists of the present time.
He is The winner of 1998 Prague Spring Competition, the 1999 Young Concert Artists Competition, the 2000 Davidoff Prix.
Being the artistic director of the Chopin Festival in Marienbad, he holds a chair as professor at the Academy of Music in Prague.
He has played with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra… to name a few; appeared in concert halls such as the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Wigmore Hall, Tonhalle Zurich, Carnegie Hall´s Weill Recital Hall, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Tokyo´s Suntory Hall and Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore.
Kasik has performed under the baton of Jakub Hrůša, Pinchas Zukerman, Serge Baudo, Marin Alsop, Yakov Kreizberg, Ingo Meztmacher, Ken – Ichiro Kobayashi, Petr Altrichter, Tomáš Netopil…
The New York Times
“Mr. Kasik plays with a resourceful technique, fluidity, a keen sense of colour and intelligence.”
The Republican
“… elegant phrasing, touch and tone recalled those of the finest keyboard virtuosos like Artur Rubinstein and Kasik’s own countryman, the late Rudolf Firkusny, who was himself a champion of Dvorak’s Piano Conc