Polish clarinetist and conductor, Jan Jakub Bokun, is the artistic director of the Clarimania festival, founder and conductor of the Inter>CAMERATA chamber orchestra.

Summa cum laude graduee from Karol Lipiński Music Academy in Wrocław, Jan Jakub Bokun, obtained further postgraduate training with Guy Dangain at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. Bokun is also winner of competitions in Wrocław, Włoszakowice, Białystok, Enschede and Mt. Pleasant.

He later studied conducting at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He has studied with Sergiu Celibidache, David Zinman, Kurt Masur, James Levine, Guy Deplus, Philippe Cuper, Walter Boeykens and Michael Collins.

As a clarinetist and conductor he recorded 15 albums.

Jan Jakub Bokun is a highly sought-after teacher, who has conducted numerous courses and master classes at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, in Sofia, Belgrade, Prague, Paris, Brno, Lubljana, Mexico, Beijing, Tokyo, and Avila, Spain and in the USA. He is currently on the faculty of the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław. He is an endorsed by the companies Yamaha, D’Addario and BG.

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.

www.irvinvenys.cz

Miloslava Machová is one of the most sought-after chamber musicians of our time, especially by woodwind players. She has collaborated with many Czech and European artists, with whom she has made several recordings for Czech Radio. She has been an accompanist at a number of International music competitions, such as the Prague Spring International Music Competition. Since 2006 she regularly participates in the summer masterclasses of the French-Czech Music Academy in Telč.

Currently, she works at the Faculty of Music of the Academy of Performing Arts as an assistant professor for piano cooperation and at the wind department of the Prague Conservatory.