The Moldau and the Seine Dialogue

Kateřina Kněžíková is one of the most promising sopranos of her generation. In addition to her opera career, she increasingly focuses on concert repertoire, achieving success both in her native Czech Republic and abroad. Her core repertoire includes works by Antonín Dvořák, Bohuslav Martinů, Leoš Janáček, as well as the art song genre. She is the recipient of the Classic Prague Awards 2018 for Best Chamber Performance and the Thalia Award 2019 for her outstanding stage portrayal in Julietta or The Key to Dreams (B. Martinů) at the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre.

A graduate of the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Kněžíková has been a permanent member of the National Theatre Opera since 2006. Her current roles there include appearances in Rusalka, Così fan tutte, Carmen, Jenůfa, The Bartered Bride, and The Cunning Little Vixen.

She has performed at numerous festivals, including the Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Prague Spring International Music Festival, Dvořák Prague International Music Festival, and Smetana’s Litomyšl. Her collaborations with leading orchestras include the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony, Camerata Salzburg, Czech Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, among others.

She has worked under the baton of many distinguished conductors, including Jiří Bělohlávek, Semyon Bychkov, Serge Baudo, Plácido Domingo, Asher Fisch, Manfred Honeck, Domingo Hindoyan, Jakub Hrůša, Oksana Lyniv, Tomáš Netopil, John Nelson, Petr Popelka, and Robin Ticciati.

In 2021, Kněžíková released her debut solo album “Phidylé” with Supraphon, which was named Editor’s Choice and listed among Gramophone's Best Classical Albums of 2021, also winning the BBC Music Magazine Award in the Vocal category. Her discography with Radioservis includes the albums “Fantasie” and “K2”. In September 2024, she released “Tag und Nacht” with Jakub Hrůša and the Bamberg Symphony under the Supraphon label.

In December 2024, she made a highly successful debut with the Czech Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall, conducted by Semyon Bychkov.

source: Agentura Camerata

Martin Kasík is one of the most prominent figures on the Czech music scene. Both critics and audiences acclaim his creative and poetic approach to musical expression, which captures the mood of the moment, conveys a deep spiritual dimension, and reflects an exceptional richness and variability of emotions.

He studied at the Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava under Monika Tugendliebová and later at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (AMU) with Ivan Klánský. He broadened his musical horizons through masterclasses with Lazar Berman, Garrick Ohlsson, Christian Zacharias, and Paul Badura-Skoda.

Winning the 1998 Prague Spring Competition and the 1999 Young Concert Artists competition in New York opened him the doors to prestigious concert halls worldwide, including Carnegie Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall, Tonhalle Zürich, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, De Doelen in Rotterdam, Finlandia Hall in Helsinki, L'Auditori de Barcelona, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

He has performed under the baton of renowned conductors such as Pinchas Zukerman, Marin Alsop, Yakov Kreizberg, Ingo Metzmacher, Serge Baudo, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, Libor Pešek, Jakub Hrůša, and Tomáš Netopil. His collaborations include performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, New York Chamber Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Rotterdam Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, and Singapore Philharmonic. He regularly works with the Czech Philharmonic, and the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, with which he has toured Japan and the USA.

His recordings for Supraphon and Arco Diva have received top accolades in Gramophone, Repertoire, and Harmonie magazines.

source: Martin Kasík

Double bassist Petr Ries graduated from the P.  J. Vejvanovský Conservatory in Kroměříž. During his studies, he also focused on conducting and composition. In the 2003–2004 academic year, he completed a study stay at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris under Professor Jean-Paul Celea. He completed his education in 2005 at the Faculty of Music of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under Professor Jiří Hudec.

He is a laureate of numerous competitions. In 1996, he won first prize at the National Conservatory Competition; a year later, he received first prize at the F. Gregory International Double Bass Competition in Kroměříž. In 1998, he was awarded second prize at the Moravian Autumn International Performance Competition in Brno, followed by seventh prize at the International Music Competition in Markneukirchen in 1999. In 2002, he received second prize at the J. M. Sperger International Double Bass Competition in Michaelstein and became a laureate of the prestigious Talent of the Year 2002 competition in Prague, where he performed Serge Koussevitzky’s Double Bass Concerto in F sharp Minor with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra in a live broadcast on Czech Radio Vltava.

In 2003, he won the audition for the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, and a year later joined the Czech Philharmonic, where he continues to serve as deputy principal double bassist.

As a soloist and chamber musician, Petr Ries regularly performs on stages in the Czech Republic and abroad. He has collaborated with many Czech and international orchestras and is a sought-after chamber music partner. He has performed with renowned ensembles such as the Pavel Haas Quartet, Bennewitz Quartet, Zemlinsky Quartet, Škampa Quartet, Martinů Quartet, Kocián Quartet, Baborák Ensemble, Belfiato Quintet, and PhilHarmonia Octet, among others.

Currently, he is a member of the Prague Chamber Soloists and the Haydn Ensemble Prague. Since 2010, he has also been active in jazz as a member of the Czech Philharmonic Jazz Band.

He has taught at the Interpretation Courses in Litomyšl since 2003 and at the Summer Music Academy in Kroměříž. Between 2009 and 2015, he was a professor at the International Conservatory in Prague and is currently a lecturer at the Czech Philharmonic Orchestral Academy. He is frequently invited to serve on the juries of national and international competitions.

The Bennewitz Quartet is one of the leading international chamber ensembles, a status confirmed not only by their victories in two prestigious competitions—Osaka in 2005 and Prémio Paolo Borciani in Italy in 2008—but also by critical acclaim. As early as 2006, the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote: “… the music was remarkable not just for its clarity of structure, but for the beautiful tonal palette and purity of intonation in its execution. Only very rarely does one experience such skillfully crafted and powerful harmonies... Great art.” The ensemble has received various awards on the Czech music scene as well. In 2004, the quartet was awarded the Prize of the Czech Chamber Music Society, and in 2019, the four musicians won the Classic Prague Award for the Best Chamber Music Performance of the Year.

The quartet regularly performs at major venues both in the Czech Republic and abroad, including Wigmore Hall in London, Musikverein in Vienna, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, The Frick Collection in New York, Seoul Arts Center, and the Rudolfinum in Prague. They are frequent guests at renowned festivals such as the Salzburger Festspiele, Lucerne Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Kammermusikfest Lockenhaus, and the Prague Spring. The group has had the privilege of working with outstanding artists such as Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Alexander Melnikov, Vadim Gluzman, Isabel Charisius, Pietro de Maria, Reto Bieri, Danjulo Ishizaka, and others.

The Bennewitz Quartet takes particular pleasure in performing on the Czech music scene. A highlight of their career was their collaboration with the Czech Philharmonic and conductor Jiří Bělohlávek in a performance of Bohuslav Martinů’s Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra. The group also recorded both quartets by Leoš Janáček for Czech Television in the unique setting of Villa Tugendhat in Brno. Czech Radio regularly records the quartet’s major concerts.

The members of the quartet place great emphasis on an inspiring and sometimes challenging choice of repertoire. In 2012 and 2015, they performed all six of Bartók’s string quartets in a single evening at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and in Uppsala, Sweden. In 2014, they premiered The Songs of Immigrants by Slavomír Hořínka at Konzerthaus Berlin. In 2019, they added a new album to their discography featuring the works of persecuted Jewish composers—Hans Krása, Viktor Ullmann, Erwin Schulhoff, and Pavel Haas—released under the Supraphon label.

In the 2024/25 season, the Bennewitz Quartet will return to several European venues, including Wigmore Hall in London, Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, and Konzerthaus Berlin, performing the string quintets of Dvořák and Brahms with Veronika Hagen. They will also tour the United States, making their debut in Providence, Houston, and Tucson, while returning to the Music and Beyond Festival in Ottawa and The Harvard Musical Association in Boston. Meanwhile, various concert projects will continue in the Czech Republic. The final concerts of their complete cycle of Dvořák’s string quartets will take place in September as part of the Dvořák Prague Festival. Later that month, a new CD featuring string quartets by composers who “used to play together”—Haydn, Mozart, Vaňhal, and Dittersdorf—will be released under the Supraphon label.

Since 1998, the quartet has borne the name of violinist and director of the Prague Conservatory, Antonín Bennewitz (1833–1926), who played a crucial role in establishing the Czech violin school. Among his most significant students were Otakar Ševčík and František Ondříček, as well as Karel Hoffmann, Josef Suk, and Oskar Nedbal, who—under Bennewitz’s influence—formed the famous Bohemian Quartet.

source: Bennewitz Quartet