Ivo Kahanek

Ivo Kahánek is an exceptional musician and teacher who has amazed audiences in many countries around the world with his extraordinary talent.

He is the recipient of many international awards, including the Anděl Award for his complete recording of Antonín Dvořák's piano works. In 2004, he became the absolute winner of the Prague Spring international music competition and had previously won awards in many important competitions in our country and abroad.

After successful debuts at the Beethovenfest in Bonn and the Prague Spring, he was invited by the BBC Symphony Orchestra to perform at the BBC Proms in London's Royal Albert Hall. There, in August 2007, he performed Bohuslav Martinů's Piano Concerto No. 4, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek. Ivo Kahánek was selected by Sir Simon Rattle for two performances with the Berlin Philharmonic in November 2014.

Ivo Kahánek regularly collaborates with the Czech Philharmonic and has had successful performances with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Glasgow, Essener Philharmoniker, WDR Orchestra Cologne, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, Prague Chamber Philharmonic, Brno Philharmonic and many others. Other notable artists with whom he has collaborated include conductors Semyon Byčkov, Jakub Hrůša, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Rafael Payare, Pinchas Steinberg, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Tomáš Netopil, Andrej Borejko, Libor Pešek and Zdeněk Mácal, violinist Daniel Hope, cellist Alissa Weilerstein, violist Paul Neubauer, Pavel Haas Quartet, Tetzlaff Quartet, soprano Martina Janková and tenor Pavel Černoch. In 2018, he became the recipient of the Classic Prague Award for Solo Performance of the Year.

Since May 2025, Ivo Kahánek has been the director of the Prague Conservatory.