Violin Masterclass | Barbora Kolárová, Master Teacher

Described as a “fevered” and “theatrical” performer with “a taste for the dramatic” (New York Times), having “remarkably strong, rich tone, terrific rhythm drive and technical brilliance” (Whole Note), and “adventurous musical personality” (Classical Modern Music), Barbora Kolářová is recognized as one of the foremost violinists to emerge from the Czech Republic in recent years.

Ms. Kolářová is an artist of creative balances, always looking back and looking forward to find new fulcrums between past and present. Trained in the classical tradition, Kolářová’s artistic voice is oriented towards minute details and virtuosity, but with a creative intent to use these skills to generate new standards in classical music by collaborating with living composers on new works, and uncovering lost works from the past. Barbora explains, “My biggest passion has been searching for pieces that are generally unknown and unrecorded, which speak to me artistically and emotionally. It is an incredible thrill to be able to perform a piece that the audience has never heard before, whether by a composer from the past or a living star.”

Her latest projects include premiere performances and collaborative new works for violin including Pascal Le Boeuf’s “Imp in Impulse”, David Ludwig’s “Violin Concerto No.2,” Sheridan Seyfried’s “Capriccio for Solo Violin”, Alyssa Weinberg’s “Unstrung”, Antonio Sanz “Theme and Variations” and most recently Daniel Withworth’s “Alma” for solo violin and electronics.

Her debut album ‘Imp in Impulse’ (New Focus/Furious Artisans) consists of unreleased virtuosic solo works ranging from 1963 to the present by Jean Françaix, Klement Slavický, and Pascal Le Boeuf. Solo album ‘Imp in Impulse’ has been voted ‘Best of 2020’ by “An Earful” and Barbora’s performance described as “spectacular” with “as much personality as skill” (An Earful), having “considerable virtuosity harnessed to a nicely overarching expressivity” with a “very own personal stamp” (Classical Modern Music).

Recent appearances include, solo and chamber music concerts at Carnegie Hall, Philadelphia’s Verizon Hall, the Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Cultural Centre in Hong Kong, Dewan Philharmonik Petronas in Kuala Lumpur, Musikverein and the Wiener Kozerthaus in Vienna, Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall, Lisinski Hall in Zagreb, and the Dvorana Hall/ Union Hall in Maribor, Slovenia.

As a soloist and a highly demanded chamber musician she appeared at festivals such as the Haydn Music Festival,Young Prague Festival, 2012 Miloš Forman Festival presenting “Czech Music of the 60’s” in the National Arts Gallery in Washington DC, The Sound of Piano, Strings & Voice China International Music Festival in Xi’an, Malaysian Philharmonic Chamber Music Series, Curtis Summerfest, Artosphere Music Festival, Manchester Music Festival, Unruly Sounds and collaborated with orchestras such as the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Czech Radio Symphony, the Czech National Theatre Orchestra, the West Bohemia Symphony Orchestra, the Limoges Orchestra, and the Academy Sinfonietta Orchestra.

In addition to touring internationally as a soloist, Barbora was as a visiting performing artist of the Czech Philharmonic (2013-2016), visiting concertmistress of the Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais in Brazil (2017-2018) and has been a regular substitute co-principal second violinist of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra since 2015 and a Lincoln Center Stage artist since 2016.

Barbora has received awards from a number of international competitions including Spotlight winner for Lincoln Center Stage, laureate prizes at the Golden Classical Music Awards International Music Competition in NYC, the Manhattan International Music Competition, and the Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition in Salzburg, Austria. Recipient of the Broadus Erle Prize and a holder of The Special Diploma at the Vadim Repin Master class Scholarship Competition, Barbora is also a laureate of the New York International Artist Association Competition, the Remember Enescu in Bucharest, Telemann Competition in Poland, of the Prague Junior Note and the Grand prize winner of the Michigan ASTA Solo Competition.

She holds degrees in violin performance from Curtis Institute of Music (BM ’12) and Yale School of Music (MM ’14), and is the co-founder and artistic director of the Lake George Music Festival (a 501(c)(3) non-profit). Her primary mentors include Pavel Prantl, Charles Avsharian, Arnold Steinhardt and Ida and Ani Kavafian.

Barbora plays an extremely rare 1780 Josephus Antonius Laske violin. Her performance wardrobe is sponsored and provided courtesy of Malaysian designer Alia Bastamam, styled by Shahrezzan Ezani and Jimmy Najeem. She is managed by Manhattan Concert Artists (MCA).