Pianist Jan Čmejla, born in 2003 in Prague, is regarded as one of the most remarkable talents of his generation. In March 2025, he won First Prize, the Audience Prize, and several special awards at the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig – as the very first Czech pianist in the history of this competition. The year 2025 also marked an important anniversary: at its 75th edition, the competition was for the first time dedicated exclusively to the piano, which lent Čmejla’s victory additional historical significance. As part of the Bach Festival in Leipzig, he performed a solo recital in the Great Hall of the Gewandhaus, which was later released by Genuin Classics on international streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music. He also appeared as a soloist with the Gewandhaus Orchestra under the baton of Jakub Hrůša.

Since 2025, Jan Čmejla has been part of the prestigious SWR Kultur New Talent program. Within this three-year collaboration with the German public broadcaster SWR, he appears in recitals, orchestral concerts, and studio recordings. The program enables him to perform regularly in the regions of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate and provides him with significant media exposure.

He began his musical education at the age of six at the Ilja Hurník Music School in Prague, later studying at the Grammar and Music School of the City of Prague with Prof. Taťána Vejvodová and Prof. Lukáš Klánský. From 2018 to 2022, he studied at the Prague Conservatory in the class of Prof. Eva Boguniová. Since 2022, he has been studying at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim with Prof. Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy.

He gained international attention as the overall winner of Concertino Praga (2019), a laureate of the Santa Cecilia Competition (2021), and winner of the International Piano Competition in Épinal (2022), where he became the youngest winner in the history of the competition. He is also a laureate of the Olga Kern Foundation. In 2023, he was accepted into Gautier Capuçon’s foundation, with whom he subsequently performed at the Schloss Elmau festival.

As a soloist, he has collaborated with orchestras such as the MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic, Brno Philharmonic, Pardubice Chamber Philharmonic, North Bohemian Philharmonic Teplice, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, and the State Philharmonic Košice. He has performed in New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Barcelona, and Ottawa, and in 2024 he made his Asian debut with a concert in Hong Kong.

In 2026, he appeared in the prestigious Piano Laureates in Concert series at HKU MUSE at the University of Hong Kong.

In 2024, he released his debut studio album “Revisited” featuring works by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Adam Skoumal. In the same year, he was invited for a solo recital at the Prague Spring Festival.

Jan Čmejla is also active as a pedagogue and has given masterclasses at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Education University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and Hong Kong Baptist University. He has gradually established himself as a prominent pedagogical figure in Hong Kong, working with advanced and exceptionally gifted students. He has drawn artistic inspiration, among others, from masterclasses with Boris Giltburg, Olga Kern, and Lang Lang.

Štěpán Jinek (b. 2004) is a Czech bassoonist. He began playing the bassoon at the age of six. He studied at the Taussigova Music School in Prague under Bedřich Kameník and Luboš Fait. From 2019 to 2025, he continued his studies at the Prague Conservatory in the class of Ondřej Roskovec, principal bassoonist of the Czech Philharmonic. He completed his studies with a solo performance with the Prague Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, performing Concerto da esperimento for bassoon and orchestra
by Gioachino Rossini at the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum. Since 2025, he studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim with Prof. Ole Kristian Dahl.

He is a prizewinner of numerous performance competitions. Among his most notable achievements are First Prize, the Absolute Winner title, and a Special Jury Prize for his performance of Antonín Reicha's Variations for Bassoon at the International Competition Pro Bohemia Ostrava (2023), as well as First Prize and the Absolute Winner title at the National Competition of the Czech Ministry of Education (2018) and the International Competition for Wind Instruments in Brno (2022).

As a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player, he has collaborated with leading Czech ensembles and orchestras, including the PhilHarmonia Octet, the Prague Philharmonia, the Pilsen Philharmonic, the South Bohemian Philharmonic, the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Czech Philharmonic. In 2022, he performed as a soloist with Prague Philharmonia. He has also premiered works by Petr Wajsar and Jiří Trtík.

From 2022 to 2025, he was a member of the Orchestral Academy of Prague Philharmonia and also taught at the Taussigova Music School in Prague. He is a member of the Czech Double Reed Society and regularly participates in its masterclasses and seminars. In 2026, he was selected to participate in the Fiskars Summer Festival, Finland, where he performed alongside distinguished international musicians under the baton of Jukka-Pekka Saraste.

He regularly collaborates with the Czech Student Philharmonic, performing in both educational and subscription concerts of the Czech Philharmonic. In addition to the bassoon, he also plays the piano and organ, and is occasionally active as an arranger and composer.