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8/23/2008 | Skampa Quartet, Jan Buble

Škampa Quartet

Shortly after its establishment, the Škampa Quartet became established in the music world as a successful and well-known chamber ensemble. The quartet launched its artistic career in March 1989 at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, under the direction of Professors Antonín Kohout and Milan Škampa, members of the Smetana Quartet; it perfected its skills further on a trip to the Music School of Fiesole to study under Pierro Farulli of the Quartetto Italiano, as well as during studies under pianist Malcolm Frager, members of the Amadeus Quartet, Walter Levin of the LaSalle Quartet and other artists.

After receiving a number of prizes at international chamber music competitions, Škampa Quartet won first prize at the prestigious international Charles Hennen competition in Heerlen, the Netherlands. In 1992 the quartet received the special Czech Chamber Council prize; the following year it held a very successful performance at Wigmore Hall in London, for which it received the Royal Philharmonic Society award for Best Debut 1993. In October 1994, the ensemble became the first quartet in residence at Wigmore Hall, where in the years between 1994 and 1998 it played dozens of concerts.

The quartet performs throughout the world and takes part in major musical events such as the festivals in Melbourne, Aspen, Berlin, Gstaad, Edinburgh, Istanbul and Paris. It regularly performs in concert halls such as Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebow in Amsterdam, the Châtelet theatre in Paris, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Lincoln Centre and Carnegie Hall in New York, Suntory Hall in Tokyo and Dvořák Hall in Prague's Rudolfinum. The ensemble regularly accepts invitations to international chamber music festivals; in recent years these have included festivals in Orland (Netherlands), Stavanger (Norway) and Schleswig-Holstein and Schwetzingen (Germany).

In May 2001, Škampa Quartet was named "Visiting Professors of Chamber Music" at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where they continue to teach. The ensemble records for Supraphon (eight compact discs) and has enjoyed collaborating with numerous other artists, the most notable of whom include Josef Suk, Nikolai Demidenko, Kathryn Stott and Melvyn Tan. The quartet's collaboration with Czech singer-songwriter Iva Bittová on her album "Iva Bittová Classic" is a masterful fusion of Roma and Moravian folk music and jazz. Their next compact dist with both of Janáček's string quartets won the Harmonie award for the best recording of the year in 2001 in the chamber music category. The ensemble took the same prize two years later, for their compact disc with a modern interpretation of Bedřich Smetana's two string quartets.

The quartet regularly participates in BBC radio broadcasts; their "BBC Lunchtime Course" with s Melvyn Tan was selected as the first compact disc in the "Live from Wigmore Hall" series of recordings for the BBC. Škampa Quartet has also performed in the BBC show "Classic Café" broadcast live from the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden as part of the reopening celebrations.

Helena Jiříkovská, Daniela Součková - violin
Radim Sedmidubský - viola
Lukáš Polák - cello

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Jan Buble

Jan Buble studied at the Prague Conservatory under Professor Václav Fuka, and music at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under Professor Jiří Hudec. He gained considerable professional experience (solo, chamber and orchestra performance) during his studies in Utrecht a Amsterdam (Netherlands) and in Toyama and Tokyo (Japan); le later taught there are a lecturer. Since 2001 he has been a member of the contrabass group at the Prague Symphony Orchestra. Jan Buble is thankful to Mr Vít Popp (Czech Musical Instruments) for his professional care and support.

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