Projects

The Academy of Chamber Music is dedicated to the promotion of young talent from the Czech Republic and education in chamber music. Through annual auditions, it selects the most talented string, wind and keyboard players.

The training is provided in the form of projects, during which the scholarship holders prepare a concert programme together with the lecturers, which is finally performed at several follow-up concerts. Each year the Academy provides selected students with scholarships to cover the costs of their studies, including accommodation and food.

The Academy has an international outreach thanks to its close cooperation with the German foundation Villa Musica Rheinland-Pfalz. The latter represents an opportunity for Czech students to meet and perform together on stage with top students and teachers from German universities.

Each season, Villa Musica Foundation teachers are joined by selected teachers and soloists from the Czech Republic.

The projects of the Chamber Music Academy are organized with the support of the Czech-German Future Fund, the Central Bohemia Region, the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and others.

The Serious Interest (Vážný zájem) project was founded in 2016 as an idea to increase interest in classical music and to bring the culture of house and salon concerts to the Czech environment. What was originally an enthusiastic happening that caught the attention of Czech and international media, and which in its first year helped to organise over a hundred domestic concerts, has become an organisation that uses modern communication channels to attract listeners to classical music who would not have found their way to the classical music easily.

The culture of house or salon concerts can be traced across time and geography. For many listeners, it is often surprising to discover that, for example, a significant number of Antonín Dvořák's works were premiered at salon concerts. Like most of Beethoven's works, they had their private premieres first for a select "home" audience of his patrons. Today, this kind of concert is enjoying a renaissance, and Serious Interest is helping to spread the word.

During its eight years of operation, Serious Interest has organised several hundred small concerts throughout the Czech Republic. In addition to the concerts at home, a number of salon concerts have gradually taken shape, and in the last two years they have formed a coherent dramaturgy that attracts new listeners.

The Ševčík Academy offers young talented string players to study in the Czech Republic under the guidance of a top international team of teachers. The artistic directors of the academy are violinist Josef Špaček and cellist Tomáš Jamník.

The Academy has taken the name of Otakar Ševčík, a prominent violinist and teacher who at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries created a revolutionary method that is still respected today. In addition to teaching young talents, the Academy aims to raise awareness of Otakar Ševčík's personality and methodology, as well as to offer a cultural programme in and around his hometown of Horažďovice, in the Klatovy district.

The concept of the Ševčík Academy is unique, offering education not only to high school and university music students, but also to children and teachers. An inspiration for this system is the comprehensive method of Otakar Ševčík, which is also intensively devoted to beginners and players, and at the same time is topped off with top instrumental technique.