Ivo Kahánek

The young Czech pianist Ivo Kahánek is quickly gaining a reputation as one of the most exciting pianists of his generation. He is renowned for his lyrical poeticism and outstanding virtuosity employed in pieces ranging from Baroque to contemporary music.

He won the Prague Spring International Music Competition in 2004 and gained awards at other leading international piano competitions.

After his successful debuts at Beethovenfest Bonn and Prague Spring Festival he was invited by the BBC to perform the Fourth Piano Concerto („Incantations“) by Bohuslav Martinů at the BBC Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Jiří Bělohlávek. The concert took place at the Royal Albert Hall in London in August 2007 and was broadcast by the BBC Radio 3 and the BBC Television.

So far Ivo Kahánek has released six CDs between 2007-2009 under the Supraphon Music label with music by Janáček, Martinů, Klein, Kabeláč, Francaix, Ibert i.a.

A graduate of both the Janáček Conservatoire in Ostrava under Marta Toaderová and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under Ivan Klánský, Ivo Kahánek also studied for one semester on the Advanced Instrumental Studies course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London under Ronan O´Hora and participated in master classes with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Christian Zacharias, Alicia de Larocha, Imogen Cooper, Peter Frankl and many others.