Concertino Praga 2025 Final - Wind and Brass instruments

The Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice was founded in 1969. Shortly after its establishment  it became one of the leading Czech orchestras (then known as the East Bohemian State Chamber Orchestra) under the leadership of its first Chief Conductor Libor Pešek. Since September 2018, Stanislav Vavřínek has served as its Chief Conductor.

The orchestra organizes traditional subscription cycles as well as special concerts and is increasingly focusing on young and the youngest audiences. Its repertoire primarily centres around Classical and 20th-century music but is regularly enriched with multi-genre and crossover projects, demonstrating that high-quality music can be performed at the highest level across different genres and styles.

The Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice performs not only in its home city but also in other towns across the Pardubice region and throughout the Czech Republic. It is a regular guest at the country’s most prestigious festivals, including the Prague Spring International Music Festival, Smetana’s Litomyšl, Leoš Janáček International Music Festival, Český Krumlov International Music Festival, and others.

The orchestra has appeared on prestigious European stages such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Festspielhaus in Salzburg, Musikverein in Vienna, and Tonhalle in Zurich. It has also toured the USA and China and completed three tours of Japan. The ensemble collaborates with leading Czech and international conductors and soloists, and its extensive discography continues to grow with new recordings for Brilliant Classics, Supraphon, Naxos, and ArcoDiva.

source: Komorní filharmonie Pardubice

Vahan Mardirossian, an Armenian-born conductor and pianist based in France, has been appointed as the new Chief Conductor of the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice. He will assume his new role starting from the 2025/2026 season.

Born in 1975 in Yerevan, Armenia, he began his musical education at the Armenian Komitas Conservatory before continuing his studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where he graduated with honours in 1996. Initially pursuing a career as a pianist, he later shifted his focus to conducting, giving his renditions a unique and multi-faceted artistic perspective by drawing from both disciplines.

For many years, he served as Principal Conductor of the Caen Symphony Orchestra in France and as Music Director of the Armenian National Chamber Orchestra. Since 2020, he has been Music Director of the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, where he regularly conducts the orchestral rounds of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. He also collaborates with the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong and has conducted numerous leading orchestras worldwide.

His discography includes an acclaimed recording of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with Stéphanie-Marie Degand and the Caen Symphony Orchestra, as well as a recording of Florentine Mulsant’s Music for Strings with the Armenian National Chamber Orchestra.

Alongside his conducting career, Mardirossian is also an esteemed educator. He teaches at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where he shares his extensive experience with young talents. Additionally, he is a frequent jury member at international music competitions, and leads masterclasses worldwide.

He first introduced himself to Pardubice audiences in 2023, when he conducted the opening concert of the Pardubice Spring Music Festival. He also shares a strong connection with the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice through an extensive discography for the prestigious Dutch label Brilliant Classics.

source: Komorní filharmonie Pardubice

Chantal Ramona Veit was born in Merano, Italy in 2008 and she had her first flute lesson aged just three and a half. In 2021, she started studying the flute and singing at the Tyrol State Conservatory in Innsbruck. She has received a number of awards from prestigious national and international competitions. She has performed as a solo flautist with the InnStrumenti Tyrol Chamber Orchestra and the Haydn Orchestra from Bolzano and Trento. In 2022, she received the ORF prize in the wind instrument category. Her latest successes include the first prize from an international competition in Treviso, the first prize from the International Online Competition run by the German Flute Society, the first prize at the Moyse Flute Competition in Sofia and the absolute victory in the Franco Margola International Music Competition in Brescia. In May 2024, she debuted as a soloist with the Vienna Art Nouveau Orchestra in the Brahms Hall at the Musikverein in Vienna. Her artistic activities also include a joint performance with the excellent flautist Carlo Jans during the Sonora Music Festival.

Víctor Amadeu Puigbò Rincón started playing the piano at the age of four and soon came to love classical music. Two years later, he added the violoncello to his instruments. He studied the saxophone at the IEA Oriol Martorell Conservatory in Barcelona from the age of seven. The saxophone eventually became his main instrument. Intensive studies and improvements in his playing technique have led him all the way to the finale of the several national competitions, such as the BBVA competition, which is held regularly in Catalonia. Last year, he qualified as the Catalonian representative in the final round of the Intercentros Melómano competition and he performed as a soloist in Alexander Glazunov’s Concerto for Saxophone with the conservatory orchestra.

Raeun Hong was born into a musical family in Seoul, South Korea in 2009. She started studying the piano and violin at the age of five and the oboe at the age of eight. At the age of ten, she was accepted into the Korean National Institute as the youngest ever woodwind player. In 2020, the school named her its “excellent young artist of the year” and at the age of eleven she undertook her first solo recital at the Elim Art Center. She has received a number of awards over the last three years, including the first prize and music director’s prize at an international music competition in Barletta, Italy, the main prize at an international music competition in Vienna (2023) and several first prizes in Korea, Denmark and Latvia. In 2023, Seoul’s Kumho Music Foundation named her its “young musician” and as such she performed a recital at the Kumho Art Hall in March 2024, which met with positive acclaim. Last year, she also became the youngest oboist to make it to the second round of the 59^th annual international oboe competition in Markneukirchen, Germany.

Otakar Antonín Štefan was born in Prague in 2008. He has played the recorder and the piano since an early age and he began teaching himself the clarinet at the age of ten. He attended clarinet courses under the leadership of Ludmila Peterková and subsequently Professor Milan Polák and Vít Spilka. In 2024, he started studying the clarinet at the Prague Conservatory under Professor Milan Polák. His successes to date include the third prize at an international music competition in Moscow, the first prize at an international music competition in Krakow, the first prize at the Dřevohraní woodwind competition in Litvínov, the Euterpe Music Award in Berlin, the first prize at the Sava Dimitrov International Clarinet Competition in Sofia and an honourable mention at the Amadeus International Piano Competition for young pianists up to fifteen years of age in Brno. At the age of twelve, he performed Jan Evangelista Antonín Koželuh’s E flat Concerto for clarinet and orchestra with the Šluknov Chamber Orchestra.