Leoš Čepický

Leoš Čepický graduated from the Pardubice Conservatory in 1985, taking lessons with Ivan Štraus. At the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague he studied violin with Jiří Novák and chamber music with Antonín Kohout (both members of the Smetana Quartet). He joined the Wihan Quartet during his studies at the Academy of Performing Arts.

Leoš is a prize-winner in both solo and quartet competitions: In the 1980s and 90s he won and was laureate of the Kocian Violin Competition in Ústí nad Orlicí and Beethoven’s Hradec competition in Hradec nad Moravicí. He won second prize at the Ostrava Conservatory Competition and fifth place at the Václav Huml competition in Zagreb, as well as honorary mention at the Rodolfo Lipizer Prize in Gorizia, Italy. He has also participated in performance courses with Igor Bezrodny in Weimar, Germany.

Leoš frequently performs both in solo recitals and in orchestral concerts with Zagreb Philharmonic, Košice Philharmonic, Chamber Philharmonic Pardubice, Hradec Králové Philharmonic, Virtuosi Pragensis, and many others. In 2000, on the 250th anniversary of J.S. Bach’s death, he performed a complete performance of Bach’s sonatas and partitas for solo violin at the Smetana Litomyšl Festival. He has also performed all 10 Ludwig van Beethoven sonatas together with Stanislav Bogunia.

In 2002, Leoš recorded for the Multisonic label a CD of Bach sonatas and partitas for solo violin, a reissue of which was released in 2016 by Nimbus Alliance. For the same label in 2013, he collaborated on a CD recording with his piano partner Ivan Klánský.

Since 2007, Leoš Čepický has taught violin at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and in September 2010 he was appointed Head of the String Department.

He plays a violin from the workshop of Master violin maker Jan B. Špidlen, a copy of a Guarneri del Gesù 1741.