The KKFF Scholars in Concert

Although Vivi belongs to the youngest generation of pianists and has only been playing the piano for four years, she has achieved promising success. She performed at the Golden Prague International Television Festival and, as the youngest participant, began honing her skills this year at the MenArt scholarship academy under Ivo Kahánek's guidance. Her strengths, evident from an early age, include a very serious, almost professional approach to study, an unusual performance consistency given her age, and a specific stage presence.

source: Vivi Nguyen

Magdaléna Kovářová ranks among promising young piano talents with a string of awards from prestigious competitions at home and abroad. She began collecting her first competition successes at the age of eight. Since then her path has led from national competitions to international distinctions and to appearances at major festivals and in concert halls including Prague’s Rudolfinum and Carnegie Hall in New York.

Magdaléna won first prize at the Debussy International Music Competition and took victory in the Irvine International Music Competition. She developed her talent and discipline at the MenART scholarship academy and through close collaboration with pianist Lukáš Vondráček.

In addition to solo recitals Magdaléna has performed at festivals such as Prague Spring, Smetana’s Litomyšl, and the Leoš Janáček International Music Festival. She has also worked abroad completing masterclasses and giving concerts in Brussels the United States and Vietnam.

In 2021 the young pianist received an award from the City of Hlučín as an outstanding cultural figure.

source: Magdaléna Kovářová

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

Despite her young age, Nora Lubbadová has built a reputation as one of the most promising young piano talents in the Czech Republic. She has consistently demonstrated her extraordinary gift from early childhood to the present, as evidenced by numerous awards from prestigious competitions in her age category.

In her studies, she stands out due to a rare combination of spontaneous emotionality and stage presence, coupled with the ability to work systematically and diligently with great respect for her teachers. Throughout her artistic journey, she has performed solo not only in the Czech Republic but also abroad, including in Helsinki, Belgrade, and Kragujevac. She also gave a concert in Brussels under the patronage of the Karel Komárek Family Foundation. Since September 2024, she has been studying at the Prague Conservatory in the class of Professor Ivo Kahánek, under whose guidance she achieved outstanding results in her first semester.

Nora became a laureate of the prestigious Concertino Praga competition, where she delivered a brilliant interpretation of Grieg’s Piano Concerto at Dvořák Hall in Rudolfinum. She also made a significant impression in the Showcase competition finals, where she successfully performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto in the Church of St. Simon and Jude.

Beyond competitions, she continually improves her skills under the guidance of world-class piano masters. She has attended masterclasses with Daniel Blumenthal in Brussels and Stephen Kovacevich in Lucerne. Her exceptional talent has also been recognized at a global level — among 252 young pianists from around the world, she was selected as one of 42 competitors who qualified for the Aarhus International Piano Competition in Denmark, taking place in March 2025.

Her inclusion in the Pianos for Schools program, which supports young talents, helps her further develop professionally and provides her with the essential opportunity to regularly compete with international rivals — a crucial necessity for her future career at this level.

source: Nora Lubbadová

Adam Znamirovský began playing the piano spontaneously at the age of four. Since seven he has been winning prizes at national and international competitions. He can be regarded as the most compelling piano talent in the under-15 category in the Czech Republic. His clear achievements include a concert in the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum where he performed Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Elias Grandy. Among his other successes is study at the Verbier Festival Academy where he received the Edwin Caplin Foundation Award for top students. Adam is a MenART scholarship holder in the studio of Ivo Kahánek with whom he also studied at the Summer Music Academy in Kroměříž.

source: Adam Znamirovský

photo © Tom McKenzie