Piano Department

History of the Department

The piano field has been an integral part of the Janáček Academy since its post-war beginnings. The founding professor of JAMU, pianist Ludvík Kundera, Janáček’s pupil and briefly the pupil Alfred Cortot, first became dean and then the first rector of the academy for thirteen years. To this day, we draw, for example, from his analyses and observations of Janáček’s piano compositions, and we can also find Kundera’s recordings in the archives. The seven founding professors also included pianist František Schäfer, fondly remembered as a professional, but also for his human qualities. Another important personality and head of the department was prof. Otakar Vondrovic, a graduate of the Ecole normal in Paris in Cortot’s piano class, who was the first and still the only Czech pianist to perform a set of 32 Beethoven piano sonatas in a series of eight recitals in Prague’s Rudolfinum. In general, it was the successful graduates of these professors who created the next generation of educators at the department, many of whom are members of the current teaching staff. The style of interpretation and teaching was thus influenced by both domestic tradition and the French school – but not only. The department was also enriched by the principles of the Russian piano school thanks to the St. Petersburg native prof. Inesa Janíčková (whose three graduates also currently teach at the department); after all, the first Czech winner of the Prague Spring, prof. Zdeněk Hnát, former head of the department, studies under Neuhaus in Moscow as well. Of the educators who no longer work at the department, we must not forget prof. Alena Veselá (important organist, first rector of JAMU after 1989) and pianist prof. Jiří Skovajs (first dean of the Faculty of Music after 1989, long-time head of the keyboard department and director of the International Janáček Competition and International Interpretation Courses). Vratislav Bělský has left an indelible mark in the field of historically informed interpretation, from whose future generations will draw on in their publishing and translation activities.

Present

The Piano Department consists of ten internal educators, several external one and over forty students. Among the educators we find both the most successful (based on the results of major world piano competitions) Czech pianist and the “First Lady” of Czech piano pedagogy. It is natural for professors, but also for our students, to perform regularly at international festivals such as Janáček Brno, Prague Spring, in the Czech Philharmonic, Czech Chamber Music Society, the Brno Philharmonic and on foreign stages. Every year they receive prizes in international interpretation competitions (Brno, Prague, Kamenice, Vienna, Budapest, Warsaw, Lempäälä, Rome, Milan, Udine, Padua, etc.), which is why they are included in the prestigious List of Young Artists (Czech Music Fund), which makes it easy for them to start professional concert careers. Thanks to the methodological and practical training, students and graduates are also successful in competitions for teaching positions at conservatories and universities. The Department cooperates with the piano departments of Czech and foreign conservatories, as well as with partner art colleges around the world. Every year we organise courses led by leading foreign pianists and educators. Educators of the Department sit on international competition juries and are invited to lectures and courses throughout Europe and Asia. Our Methodological Centre is a unique long-term project that provides further education to piano teachers of all levels. The department publishes its own journal called Pianissimo and operates a website under the same name.

The basis is a three-year bachelor’s degree in Piano Playing. It is universally focused – on solo interpretation, chamber music and the pedagogical area.
Students can further continue with a two-year follow-up master’s degree in either the Piano Playing programme or in the extended Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy programme (students’ interpretive level is the same for both master’s programmes). These study programmes can be completed only in full-time form.
The highest possible degree of piano interpretation study is the doctoral study programme Interpretation and Theory of Interpretation, which is managed by the Field Council, joint for Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and FoM JAMU. The four-year studies can be completed either internally or externally. Internal doctoral students have a duty to teach at the faculty and they receive an adequate scholarship.
Those interested in studying in any of the study programmes usually make use of the possibility to prepare for the talent exams in advance under the guidance of our educators, either at summer international interpretation courses with daily concerts of participants, or in the form of one-time consultations.
Every year we also open our studies in the six-semester bachelor’s degree programme Piano Pedagogy, which is taught only in the combined form. This youngest study programme was created on the recommendation of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports as a transformation of the award-winning courses of the Methodological Centre.
The four-semester courses of the Methodical Centre provide further education for piano teachers. Teachers of primary art schools, conservatories and universities study here. The teaching team consists of internal and external educators of the Piano Department. Many full-time graduates (including organists and harpsichordists) return to the faculty through the Methodological Centre to update or expand their knowledge. Students appreciate not only the professional contribution, but also the collegial and energising atmosphere (in the words of the students: “we go to the centre to charge our batteries”). Unlike other further education courses, we also provide regular individual lessons in addition to group lectures, and the courses are completed with a commission exam/credit. Studies at the MC are paid, but it usually the employer who covers the costs.
All study programmes and MC courses have a valid accreditation of the Ministry of Education.

Instruments

Piano lessons take place in four classrooms with two long grand pianos. In total, the department has top world-class pianos available in its classrooms and rehearsal rooms: five Steinway D-274 grand pianos, Bösendorfer 280, Steingraeber E-272, Petrof P284 Mistral, Yamaha CF6, Petrof P194 Storm and Steinway A-188 grand pianos, as well as 6 shorter instruments by Yamaha, Petrof and Bohemia.

Annual and graduation concerts take place in the faculty’s concert hall using Steinway D-274 or Shigeru Kawai EX-278 pianos. The hall is equipped with automatic air conditioning and, especially for pianos, with air humidity regulation, which does not fall below 40%.

Graduate and chamber concerts can also take place in the chamber hall on the Steingraeber B-192 instrument.

Some faculty projects, such as concerts with the academic orchestra take place at the Theatre on Orlí Street (part of JAMU) on the Steinway C-227 instrument, or in the Besední dům (Brno Philharmonic) – 2x Steinway D-274.

Piano students have dedicated practice rooms with grand pianos in the FoM building and shared rooms with grand pianos in the Astorka dormitory building. In addition, they have the option of free year-round free of several Clavinova instruments for their dormitories or private homes, to practice in quiet.

For loan to students

Seaboard Grand

Canon camcorder

Portable audio recorder

Recording options

Audio demos can be made by the students themselves using the stable equipment in the concert hall.
Professional audio or video recordings of demos or concerts will be provided upon request by AVS (part of FoM JAMU) or the studio of the Theatre on Orlí Street (Shigeru Kawai piano EX-278).