Czech violin and piano works
with an accent on the work of Leoš Janáček

Fri 21/6 – Sun 23/6 2024
Hukvaldy, Leoš Janáček Elementary School and Leoš Janáček’s Birthplace

Excellent Czech artists and sought-after pedagogues, violinist Ivan Ženatý and pianist Ivo Kahánek are returning to the festival, as its regular guests, to pass on their teaching and interpretation experience to students, future artists, in a master class. The reputation of both artists, as well as the progress and results of the three previous years, are a guarantee that the courses will be quite exceptional for all participants. The piano accompaniment in the violin section will be in the hands of one of the most experienced, doc. Stanislav Bogunia, pedagogue of the music faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. We invite all art school students and graduates to participate both actively and passively in the master course, which will take place from Friday 21/6 to Sunday 23/6.

Content and course of the class

The master course will focus on the study of piano and violin works by Czech composers with an emphasis on the work of Leoš Janáček in the authentic environment of the composer’s birthplace. Active participants are guaranteed a minimum of two teaching hours, but if necessary and according to current time possibilities, this subsidy can be extended – the main criterion for us is not the exact time, but the quality of the result. During the course, both active and passive participants will have the opportunity to take part in a guided tour of the Leoš Janáček Memorial, take a walk in the Master’s beloved Hukvaldy game reserve, visit the Hukvaldy castle, …
The master course will end with a concert by its participants.
The number of active participants is limited to twelve interested parties in both sections.

Dear participants of the Masterclass 2024,
we are very happy that you signed up to participate in this year’s master classes led by Ivan Ženatý and Ivo Kahánek. We are sure that you will spend beautiful days in Janáček’s birthplace, Hukvaldy, and that you will get to know his work and the environment that influenced him throughout his life.
We will meet on Friday, June 21 at 2:00 p.m. in the hall of the Leoš Janáček Elementary School in Hukvaldy – Sklenov. There the course will not only officially start, but you will also learn about the schedule of classes, as well as the possibilities of using practice classes and a detailed course program.
Participants, please tell us as soon as possible the repertoire you will bring.

Course fees

Passive participants: CZK 750, Active participants: CZK 2,000

Please pay Ivan Ženatý and Ivo Kahánek course fees by April 30, 2024. Please send the payment to the account:
ČSOB, a.s. Ostrava
185 514 525/0300 – Czech crown account
Var. symbol: 002002
Please write your name, surname and MK 2024 in the note for the recipient (e.g. Jan Novák MK 2024)

For all questions, please contact the course coordinator, Mrs. Lenka Gažíková.
Email: referent@mhflj.cz
Telephone contact: +420 733 475 635

For the organizer
Mgr. Jaromír Javůrek, Ph.D. director of MHF Leoš Janáček

Best regards

Lenka Gažíková, coordinator of the master course

Uzávěrka přihlášek: 31.3.2024

Ivan Ženatý

Mr. Zenaty reaches a broad public without abandoning the world of classical music for even a moment. Besides the technical perfection one would expect, he is also appreciated for his taste, style and a captivatingly beautiful tone.
With his exceptional wealth of repertoire including more than 50 violin concertos, he is a favored guest artist with many international orchestras. Known for his versatility, his engagements also include solo recitals and chamber music collaborations.
The springboard to his international career came as a result of being a prize winner in the Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition followed immediately by debut engagements with the Moscow and Czech Philharmonic. Other successes include First Prize at the Prague Spring Competition, as well as being a chosen laureate of the UNESCO International Rostrum of Young Performers. In the subsequent years following his victories, Mr. Zenaty made his orchestral and solo debuts in London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Vienna, Zurich, Tokyo, New York, Buenos Aires, Madrid and Jerusalem.
The musicianship of Ivan Zenaty has been influenced the most by his personal encounters with Nathan Milstein, Ruggiero Ricci and André Gertler. Studies at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow under the tutelage of Igor Bezrodny, had the greatest impact on his technical approach to the violin.
The great Czech musical tradition was passed on to Mr. Zenaty through his mentor Josef Suk, which resulted in many subsequent years of professional partnership and culminated in a recording of the complete works of W. A. Mozart. Other collaborations include great artists such as Yehudi Menuhin, Yo-Yo Ma, Serge Baudo, Valery Gergiev and Neville Marriner.
Ivan Zenaty’s recordings have always aroused the enthusiastic acclaim of listeners and music critics. His prolific output of over 40 CD’s includes the complete works of Telemann, Bach, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Schulhoff, Dvořák and Grieg. His new recording of the complete works of Dvořák has attracted extraordinary attention, as has his recording of both violin concertos by J. B. Foerster with the BBC Symphony Orchestra London and its music director Jiri Belohlavek.
Thanks to the Harmony Foundation of New York, Ivan Zenaty plays a rare Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu violin made in 1740.

Ivo Kahánek

A musician of tremendous emotional power, depth and expressiveness, Ivo Kahánek has gained a reputation as one of the most exciting artists of his generation and is the Czech Republic’s most acclaimed pianist. He is universally recognised as one of the foremost interpreters of Romantic piano music and is a particular specialist in Czech repertoire. He possesses a rare gift of creating an immediate and compelling emotional connection with his audiences.
Kahánek came to public attention after winning the Concertino Praga and, in 2004, the Prague Spring International Music Competition. He was subsequently a prize winner at many other competitions (Maria Canals Piano Competition in Barcelona, Vendome Prize in Vienna, Stiftung Tomassoni Wettbewerb in Cologne, Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition in Marienbad, and others).
In 2014, Kahánek was selected by Sir Simon Rattle to perform two critically acclaimed concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic. He is only the second Czech pianist after Rudolf Firkušný to perform with this legendary orchestra. Ivo Kahánek performs regularly with the Czech Philharmonic and has also appeared on stage in front of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Glasgow, Essener Symphoniker, WDR Cologne, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Prague SO, Czech Radio SO, Prague Philharmonia, Brno Philharmonic and many others. He has collaborated with some of the world’s greatest conductors, including maestros Semyon Bychkov, Jakub Hrůša, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Rafael Payare, Pinchas Steinberg, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jiří Bělohlávek, Tomáš Netopil, Andrey Boreyko, Libor Pešek or Zdeněk Mácal.
Ivo Kahánek has already released thirteen CDs on the Supraphon Music label of works by Chopin, Dvořák, Janáček, Martinů, Klein, Kabeláč, Francaix, Ibert and more. A recording of songs by Martinů with singers Martina Janková and Tomáš Král was awarded the prestigious Diapason d’Or and the Selection of the month in the Opernwelt and Opera News magazines. His most recent recording of the piano concertos by Dvořák and Martinů, where he is accompanied by the Bamberger Philharmoniker under the baton of Jakub Hrůša, was selected as the recording of the month in the BBC Music Magazine, Choix de Classique HD, and it was also the recording of the week on BBC Radio 3.
Ivo Kahánek is a graduate of the Janáček Conservatoire in Ostrava, the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.