Michal Kaňka

Michal Kaňka started learning the cello at the age of seven with Mirko Škampa. Later he studied at the Prague Conservatory under the leadership of Viktor Moučka and finished his studies with Josef Chuchro at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, also studying under the guidance of the legendary cellists A. Navarra and P. Tortelier.

During his years of study, he participated in 32 national and international competitions as a soloist and chamber music player and won numerous prizes, in particular Laureate of the P. I. Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow (1982), 1st prize at the Prague Spring Competition (1983) and winner of the ARD Radio Competition in Munich (1986).

Michal regularly performs as a soloist with Czech and foreign orchestras: the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, and he has also collaborated with several orchestras in Japan, the USA, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Germany and many others. From 1995 to 2005 he was a permanent soloist of the Brno State Philharmonic Orchestra and from 2003 he was a permanent soloist of the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra in Prague for ten years.

In addition to his solo activities, Michal is much in demand as a chamber musician: in 1976 he founded the Martinů String Quartet, between 1986 and 2022 he was an active member of the Pražák Quartet, and he joined the Wihan Quartet in April 2017 and started collaboration with the famous Talich Quartet two years later.

Michal has made more than 40 solo recordings for labels including Panton, Bonton, Supraphon, Radioservis Praha, and Nuova Era. From the beginning of the 1990s he had a long-term representation by the French company Praga Digitals in Paris.

Since 2011 he has been a teacher at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and between 2013 and 2019 he also taught at the Prague Conservatory. In 2014 he was appointed chairman of the standing committee of the Prague Spring International Music Competition. Since 2016 he has been a member of the Board of the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation, and since 2018 he has been a member of the Artistic Council of the Prague Spring Festival. In 2019 he was awarded the title of Associate Professor at the Academy of Performing Arts.

Michal Kaňka plays a unique modern instrument made by the French master violin maker Christian Bayon in 2006 and uses a French bow made by Nicole Descloux, created in 2000.