English Study Programme

MgA. Lenka Torgersen, historical violin

After completing her studies at the Pilsen Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Lenka Torgersen began devoting her attention to the Baroque violin and early-music performance. From 1999 to 2003 she honed her skills at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis under the tutelage of Chiara Banchini. From 1999 to 2012 she was concert master of Collegium 1704. At the present time, she is concert master of Collegium Marianum Prague and La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, and also collaborates with numerous other ensembles, including Freitagsakademie Bern, Ensemble Inegal, conSequenza, Ensemble Tourbillon, Les Traverseés Baroques etc. She works with distinguished early music specialists such as Chiara Banchini, Gustav Leonhardt, René Jacobs, Andrea Marcon, Jordi Savall. She has recorded CDs for renowned labels – Harmonia Mundi, Accent, Pan Classics, Zig-Zag Territoires and Supraphon. In  2013, Lenka Torgersen recorded her solo CD Il violino boemo for Supraphon with the beautiful sonatas of Czech violin virtuosos of the 18th century. Since 2008 she has taught the Baroque violin and ensemble playing at the Týn School at Charles University in Prague. Since 2018 she has been teaching historical violin at Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno.

MgA. Marek Štryncl, historical violoncello

Conductor, cellist, choirmaster, and composer Marek Štryncl held the position of principal cellist at the North Bohemian Philharmonic while he was still a student at the conservatory in Teplice. He graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU) in 2002 in the field of conducting, ad has also studied Historical violoncello at the Dresdner Akademie für Alte Musik, as well as participating in many courses in authentic performance practice in Chinon, Mainz, Basel, Valtice, and elsewhere.

As a conductor and choirmaster, Marek has collaborated with famous chamber and symphonic orchestras, choirs, ensembles, and soloists, such as Magdalena Kožená, Phillipe Jaroussky, The New Israeli Vocal Ensemble, Boni Pueri, the Orlando Consort, the Prague Chamber Choir, Les Musiciens du Paradis and the Prague Philharmonia. His repertoire includes works from the early Baroque to the Romantic period as well as contemporary compositions.

In 1992, Marek´s interest in historical performance inspired him to found the Musica Florea ensemble. Working with Musica Florea, he resuscitates the works of forgotten composers, especially from the Czech Baroque and Classical periods. He is responsible for programming the ensembl´s regular concert series in Prague and other regions of Czech Republic, and has initiated the unique theatre project of a transportable Baroque stage called Florea Theatrum. He performs on the cello both as a soloist and in chamber works, and also composes. He has appeared in prestigious festivals such as the Prague Spring Festival, Resonanzen in Vienna, the Festival van Vlaanderen in Brugge, the Tage Alter Musik in Sopron, the Tage Alter und Neuer Musik in Regensburg, Strings of Autumn, andConcentus Moraviae. He has been recording dozens of CDs, many of which have received top awards: Diapason in 1994, Zlatá Harmonie in 1997, and a Cannes Classical Award in 2003. He is currently realising a recording of all Dvořák symphonies on period instruments for Arta Records.

Marek Štryncl is teaching historical violoncello at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno.

Jan Čižmář, MMus., lute and lute instruments

Jan Čižmář is a versatile performer specialising in a wide range of historical plucked string instruments. He performs regularly in Europe, Asia and the USA with leading early music ensembles, and as a soloist he is works extensively with baroque and renaissance repertoire.

After graduating in guitar and musicology in Brno, Jan studied at the Royal College of Music in London, where he began playing the lute under the tutelage of Jakob Lindberg. He continued his studies at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with t Nigel North, Joachim Held, Mike Fentross and Christina Pluhar.

Jan Čižmář was the founder of Czech Lute Society and is  involved with research and publishing in the field of early music. He was also the founder and editor of the Czech guitar magazine Kytara and contributes regularly to other musical periodicals.

Jan Čižmář taught lute and related instruments at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice in Poland and at the Academy of Ancient Music at Masaryk University in Brno. Currently he is teaching at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno. He regularly gives courses and masterclasses in Europe and overseas.

prof. Barbara Maria Willi, Ph.D.

(Head of Department of Organ and Historical Interpretation), harpsichord and historical keyboard instruments (fortepiano, chamber organ)

Barbara Maria Willi is a renowned player of historical keyboards. Her contributions to the development of research into and the performance of Early Music in the Czech Republic has led to her establishing the Department of Early Music at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (JAMU) in Brno. She now heads the department.  Her research into basso continuo styles in 17th Century Central Europe became the subject of her doctorate (2007), and in 2010 she became the youngest professor in the field of classical music. She is guest professor at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Netherlands, and Career Development Manager at the European EEEMERGING+ network (emerging European ensembles) founded by the Centre Culturel in Ambronay, France. She worked on two early music research projects investigating Czech immigrant composers in France in conjunction with the Sorbonne University in Paris, and her Brno institutions, Masaryk University and the Janáček Academy.

Barbara studied under the harpsichordists Kenneth Gilbert, Aline Zylberajch, Jos van Immerseel and Jesper B. Christensen and graduated with distinction at the Mozarteum University, Salzburg.

She has worked and continues to work with such artists as Martina Janková, Magdalena Kožená, Vilém Veverka, Eric Hoeprich and Erich Hoebarth. The Ensemble Berlin Prag, of which she is a member, has played in the Prague Spring International Festival, Osterfestspiele Baden-Baden, MDR Musiksommer and at the chamber music series of both the Czech Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic.

Already in her international career, Barbara Maria Willi has garnered several distinctions. These include the German Record Critics‘ Award for her CD, Intrada di Polcinelli and the prestigious French Choc du monde de musique award for the highly acclaimed recording, Salve mater. In October 2017, her Lieder CD with Martina Janková was awarded the French distinction, Diapason d´Or. She is a jury member of the Early Music Chamber Music competition at the International Händel-Festspiele, Göttingen. Adding to her list of achievements, she also happens to be the author of a basso continuo detective story, Thoroughbass, or who murdered Counterpoint?

Martin Hroch, harpsichord, fortepiano

Martin Hroch, a prominent Czech harpsichordist, studied the harpsichord and piano at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (JAMU) in Brno. He studied under the harpsichordist Barbara Maria Willi and pianists Alena Vlasáková and Jan Jiraský. He then furthered his studies of harpsichord and the interpretation of Early Music at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna with Gordon Murray and in the doctoral program at the Faculty of Music of the Janáček Academy in Brno. Martin actively participated in numerous master classes under prominent musicians and teachers, such as J. B. Christensen, M. Spanyi, E. M. Pollerus, M. Burgue, G. Morini, T. Koopman, and B. van Oort. He is a laureate of International Forum – Musical Performance and Pedagogy. As a soloist and chamber musician he performs with many orchestras and chamber ensembles in the Czech Republic and in Europe. Martin records for broadcasting and television companies. He is a member of the British Harpsichord Society. In addition to from performing at concerts, Martin works as a teacher at the faculty of music at JAMU in Brno and he is a sought-after accompanist.

Michaela Ambrosi, MMus, traverso 

Michaela Ambrosi is a flute, traverso and recorder player, music teacher and researcher. She graduated from her studies of modern flute with Jan Riedlbauch and recorder with Jakub Kydlíček at the Prague Conservatory. During her studies she won second prize in the Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf competition. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Historical Informed Practise from Charles University in Prague where she studied with Jana Semerádová. Michaela gained her Bachelor and Masters degrees in traverso playing from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague under supervision of Wilbert Hazelzet and Kate Clark. Michaela also gained experience from Marcello Gatti at the Conservatorio Evaristo Felice Dall’Abaco in Verona and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg through the Erasmus study program. Furthermore, she studied with Lisa Beznosiuk in London and had consultation lessons with many other world-famous musicians from Europe, America or Australia. She recently graduated from her PhD studies at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno under the supervision of Barbara Maria Willi. Michaela was appointed at the same institution as the first ever tutor for historical flutes. Apart from her traverso teaching activities, she guides Bachelor up to Doctoral students in their artistic research at JAMU in Brno. Michaela derives great satisfaction from teaching early music courses and masterclasses as well as from contributing to musicological forums.

For some years, she was also a recorder teacher at Brno Conservatoire. As a soloist, chamber and orchestral player, she has performed on many world stages at many festivals, playing with early music ensembles, such as the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Camerata Bachiensis, Collegium Marianum, Collegium 1704, European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO), Irish Baroque Orchestra, The Feinstein Ensemble, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Orkiestra Historyczna. Michaela is an active researcher in music from Bohemian composers of the eighteenth century. She has created a critical edition of forgotten works by Wencel Wodiczka and Georg Czarth, whose works she also recorded for the Czech Radio. Her current interests include flute compositions by Johann Georg Benda.

Irena Troupová, MgA., Historical voice 

An eminent Czech soprano Irena Troupová is renowned in the field of historically – based interpretation of early music, contemporary music, and lyrical songs of the 19th and  20th century. As a concert singer she is a frequent guest at significant music festivals, including Tage der alten Musik Herne, Pražské jaro (Prague Spring), Festival de musique baroque Caen, Holland-festival oudemuziek Utrecht, Bach-Festival Sumy and Concentus Moraviae, to name a few. She is especially interested in the works by so-called „Terezin composers“. Her complete recordings of songs by Victor Ullman elicited great respect as a significant artistic achievement of her recent period. She is also greatly valued as a tutor of Early Music, teaching at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts and Masaryk University in Brno, and in courses both in the Czech Republic and abroad.

Jana Anýžová, violin

Born in the Czech Republic, she began her violin studies at the P. J. Vejvanovský Conservatorium in Kroměříž and later at the Janáček Academy for of Performing Arts in Brno, where she graduated with the title Master of Art. After a year of exchange studies at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Trossingen, Germany, where she changed to the baroque violin, she chose to continue her studies at this institution, graduating in 2004.

Already during her studies she began to perform with many orchestras in Germany, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. She performes regularly with Czech ensembles Collegium 1704, Musica Florea Prag, Ensemble Inégal, Czech Ensemble Baroque. She appeared regularly with foreign orchestras Camerata Lipsiensis, La Cetra Basel, Concerto Köln and Cappella Coloniensis. She is a founding member also of Eisenberg Quartett, a Czech ensemble specialising in the performance of Classical era music on period instruments.

Since 2008 she also taught baroque violin at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Trossingen. Since the winter semester 2022 she has been teaching historical violin as an assistant professor at the Department of Organ and Historical Performance at the Faculty of Music of the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno.

Petr Mašlaň, violoncello