Talent Stage

Naďa Strnadová is in the first year of Professor Petr Nouzovský’s violoncello course at the Prague Conservatory. She transferred to the conservatory from the Grammar and Music School of the City of Prague, where she studied under the leadership of Professors Mirko and Martina Škampa. She regularly participates in violoncello competitions. Her successes include: the first prize at the Jan Vychytil International Violoncello Competition (2015, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023), the first prize at the Gustav Mahler International Violoncello Competition in Jihlava (2019) and the second prize at the Heran violoncello competition in v Ústí nad Orlicí (2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024). She has had the opportunity to play as a soloist at a number of concerts: at the Zlatá Pecka music festival in cooperation with Dagmar Pecková and Klára Gibišová, at a concert of the graduates of the Visegrad Music Youth Academy (accompanied by Miriam Rodriguez Brüllové), at concerts for the best Czech participants at the 26^th and 28^th annual Heran violoncello competitions, at concerts for the winners of the 16^th and 17^th years of the violoncello competition (2022 and 2023) and at the concert of the Heran violoncello competition laureates held under the auspices of the Smetana’s Litomyšl festival.

Valentýna Ibriqi, born in 2012, has been a scholarship holder of the Karel Komárek Family Foundation since 2025. She is regarded as one of the most exceptional talents of the emerging generation of Czech pianists. Valentýna Ibriqi began studying the piano at the age of eight under the guidance of Ellina Belčiková and very soon attracted attention with her outstanding competition achievements. At the age of nine, she won first prize at the Young Pianists Play on Steinway & Sons competition and followed with an absolute victory in the same competition one year later.

Since then, she has regularly distinguished herself at major national and international piano competitions, repeatedly earning first place, taking absolute victories and receiving special awards from expert juries. She is a laureate of competitions including Beethoven's Teplice, Prague Junior Note, Broumov Key, Amadeus, Virtuosi per Musica di Pianoforte and the Smetana International Piano Competition, and has successfully represented the Czech Republic on stages in Belgium, Austria, Germany, Poland, North Macedonia, Serbia and the United Kingdom.

Valentýna Ibriqi has performed at prominent venues including the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Rudolfinum, Dvořák Prague Festival and Smetana’s Litomyšl Festival, as well as at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She has collaborated with the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Radek Baborák. Valentýna Ibriqi is also a laureate of the Golden Nut Award of the Central Bohemian Region and of the Czech Republic.

She continues to develop her education through the MenArt mentoring programme of the Magdalena Kožená Foundation and at international masterclasses organised by the Prague Conservatoire.

source: Valentýna Ibriqi

Jaromír Češek was born in 2007 in Kroměříž. From an early age, he showed a great interest in music and began studying piano and trumpet at the Primary Art School in Bystřice pod Hostýnem at the age of six. He twice won the national round of the ZUŠ (Primary Art School) competition in trumpet, earning the title of absolute winner. He received the same honour in the Junior category of the Brno International Brass Competition. At the ages of twelve and fourteen, he appeared as a soloist with the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic in Zlín, performing trumpet concertos by Alexander Arutiunian and Joseph Haydn. Since 2023, he has been studying trumpet at the P. J. Vejvanovský Conservatoire in Kroměříž. In his first year, he competed in the oldest age category at the Brno International Brass Competition, winning first prize. He was also named absolute winner of the national conservatoire competition Pardubické dechy. In March 2025, he advanced to the second round of the international wind instrument competition in Varaždin, Croatia, as one of six selected participants. He regularly takes part in trumpet masterclasses.

Levente Bubreg was born into an Austrian-Hungarian musical family in 2008. He started playing the bassoon at the age of eight. He has been studying under Daniel Muleri at the Tyrol State Conservatory and Dag Jensen at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Munich since 2018. He debuted as a soloist with the StringSZ orchestra at the age of eleven. He has been awarded the Rotary Music Promotion Award. He received the Ignaz Pleyel Prize at the ISA International Summer Academy. He was the absolute winner and also received two special prizes at the 12^th year of the international Premio Crescendo Competition in Italy in 2023. He has also received the special Tyrol Prize for Instrumental Classical Music. In the summer of last year, he participated in a renowned festival in Verbier, Switzerland as a bassoonist in the VFJO Junior Orchestra and the Camerata Prima Vienna orchestra, which presents a selection of the most talented young musicians and is sponsored by the Wiener Philharmoniker. The acme of his activities this year involves a performance on stage at the Salzburg Festival–summer 2025.

Stanislav Gallin studied at the Music Grammar School in St. Petersburg, the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, and the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. He furthered his education through a study stay at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg and participated in numerous masterclasses, including with Lazar Berman.

He has performed on concert stages not only in the Czech Republic and Russia, but also across Europe, the United States, Asia, and Africa. As a soloist, he has appeared with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the PKF – Prague Philharmonia, and the Bruno Walter Symphony Orchestra, among others.

He collaborates with conductors such as Tomáš Brauner, Jack Martin Händler, Jakub Hrůša, Vahan Mardirossian, Ondřej Vrabec, and Peter Vrábel.

Gallin is a founding member of Orbis Trio, which quickly rose to prominence among Europe's most successful ensembles of its generation. In 2009 alone, the trio won four international competitions, including the prestigious International Chamber Music Competition in Hamburg, Germany.

Since 2009, he has served as a lecturer in the Department of Piano Collaboration at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.