Vlastimil Mareš has shown his exceptional musical talent at international and national competitions. He is the winner of Prague Spring /1981/, won first prize in K. Krupinsky‘s Competiton /Poland, 1979/, and first prize at Markneurkierchen /Germany, 1980/, among others. He graduated from the Music Conservatory in Pilsen, studying in the class of Prof. Jiří Hlaváč. While in his second year at the Conservatory he became the winner and laureate of the international competition Concertino Praga. He later graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. Mareš is a member of The Prague Wind Quintet and the Five Star Quartet. Since 1985, he has been the first clarinet player of the Symphonic Orchestra FOK. He has led a busy soloist career, performing at prominent venues in most European countries as well as in the USA and Japan. He teaches at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where he was appointed a professor in 2002. He currently serves as the Vice Dean of the Academy, taking care of study programs. Mareš’s recordings are also widely recognized. In 1996, he won the CD of The Year prize awarded by the Repertoir magazine in Paris. Other prizes include Grammy Asia 97 and Grammy Classic 93 for recordings of concerts by F. V. Kramář.
Irvin Venyš is by all means an outstanding artist of the young Czech generation. He gained top awards in the world most renoun international music competitions - Prague Spring, Pacem in Terris Bayreuth, EBU New Talent, Paris, Zurich, Madeira . He repeatedly proves these honours at the most prestigeous festivals in Europe – Pablo Casals Festival Prades, Festival Mitte Europa, Mozart der Europaer – Mannheim, Prague Spring – and podiums all over the world - Japan, Germany, France, Spain etc. Extraordinary is the range of his musical activities, reaching from classical repertoir through extremely demanding contemporary compositions – world and czech premiers - Osvaldo Golijov, Betty Oliveiro, Isang Yun, Jan Dušek - Concerto for clarinet and orchestra, N-Tech etc.- to traditional folklore. He has collaborated with the world leading artists - Heinz - Jörg Schellenberger, Radovan Vlatkovič, Zakhar Bron, Peter Czaba, Igor Ardašev, Sir Libor Pešek, Ralph Gothoni, Elina Vahala, Michel Lethiec, Hagai Shaham, Andre Cazalet or Jean - Louis Capezzali etc. His musical education is also worth mentioning. He has graduated The Brno Conservatory - Prof. Břetislav Winkler- The Academy of performing arts in Prague – Prof. Vlastimil Mareš and Prof. Jiří Hlaváč (PhD), where he is an assistant professor now and currently serves as the Vice Dean of the Academy, taking care of science, research and forreign affairs. He also spent a year at Conservatoir National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris in the class of professor Michel Arrignon. In the mean time he frequently records for Czech Radio and Czech Television, Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk, Arco Diva and NAXOS. His recordings on Compact discs contain music from classical clarinet repertoir to works inspired by folklore and jazz.
Daniel Wiesner is a native of Prague. He graduated from the Music Conservatory, where he studied with Prof. Valentina Kameníková, then subsequently from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where he studied in the class of Prof. Peter Toperczer. In 1990 he won first prize at the Scottish International Piano Competition in Glasgow. Being both a soloist and chamber player, he has performed in most European countries, the USA, Japan, Jordan, Tunisia, and Nicaragua. Wiesner has recorded several CDs and continues recording for Czech Radio. Among other subjects, he focuses on interpretation of current music. Since 2013, he has taught in the Department of Piano Cooperation at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
Dana Drápelová is a member of a chamber ensemble Sonata a tre /Marie Petříková-Gajdošová – violin, E. Drápela – clarinet, D. Drápelová – piano/. She plays at concerts in the Czech Republic, Germany, Holland, Italy, Austria, and Slovakia. She regularly records for Czech Radio /J. Brahms, J. Haydn, R. Schumann, B. Bartók, A. Chačaturjan, K. Husa, J. K. Vaňhal, B. Martinů/. As a soloist, she presented the Czech and Austrian premiere of the Concerto for violin, clarinet, piano and orchestra by the American composer William Wallace in 2005 /State Philharmony Brno, T. Netopil/. She works as a senior lecturer for piano cooperation at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno, Czech Republic, teaching clarinet, bassoon, and oboe.
(Profeessional lecture focused on period instruments)