Talent Stage of the 2024 Concertino Praga competition

Matthew Hockaday considers himself a multi-instrumentalist. He plays the clarinet, flute and piano. He is the winner of the 2021 Zlatý oříšek competition. He started playing the clarinet at the age of 8 and has studied under Zdeňka Andreášová at the Iša Krejčí Arts Primary School in Olomouc since 2019. He has been a student at the City of Prague Grammar School and Music School under Milan Polák since September 2023. His greatest successes include a Platinum Prize from the London Young Musician competition (2022/23) and the 1st prize from the International Mozart Competition Vienna (2023), the London Classical Music Competition (2023) and the OPUS International Music Competition (2023, Poland). He is the holder of the 1st prize and laureate title from Pro Bohemia Ostrava 2023. He has played with the Moravian Philharmonic in Olomouc (2021), performed as a soloist at a concert with the Janáček Philharmonic in Ostrava (2023) and performed recital concerts in Olomouc (2023) and Šumperk (2024). In 2024, he will perform as a soloist with the Prague Symphony Orchestra at the Municipal House in Prague, with the Western Bohemian Symphony Orchestra in Mariánské Lázně and at Smetana’s Litomyšl 2024.

Viktor Stocker has been playing the accordion since he was six and he has been studying at the Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava since September 2024. He is a laureate from more than fifty national and international music competitions. His successes include first place finishes at international accordion competitions in Vienna, Vilnius, Przemysl, Poprad or Pula, the title of the absolute winner at the international Bach competition for accordion held in Opole, Poland or first place at the Vivo International Music Competition in New York. In 2022, he received the first prize and a special award for the performance of his own composition at the German Jugend musiziert competition. He has performed as a soloist at the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, the European Parliament, the Dvořák Prague and Hudba Znojmo festivals or in concerts broadcast on Czech Television. In addition to playing the accordion, Viktor is also involved in composing. He is a four-time laureate of the German Jugend komponiert competition and holds awards from composition competitions in Luxemburg, France and the USA.

Darin Lambrev was born into an artistic family in Sofia in 2010. He began playing the piano and the violoncello at the age of five. He has been studying at the Lubomir Pipkov National Music School in Sofia since 2015, where the violoncello has since become his main instrument; he still plays the piano as his second instrument. He started to perform as a soloist with various orchestras at the age of eleven. He has been studying under Professor Romain Garioud at the Darmstadt Music Academy since October 2023. He is a laureate from many competitions, including the first prize from the International Music Competition in Grunewald and the first prize at the France Music competition in 2024. He also received the Viktor Kalabis and Zuzana Růžičková Foundation Prize in the same year at Concertino Praga. In 2023, he received the first prize at the Princess Margaret of Hesse Competition. Darin Lambrev has participated in masterclasses in Germany, Italy, Austria and Switzerland and cooperated with renowned professors such as Troels Svane, Andrei Ionita, Peter Somodari, Lazslo Fenyo, Denis Severin, Razvan Suma and Romain Garioud.