Ivan Klánský awarded Antonín Dvořák Prize

The prestigious award is conferred by the Classical Music Academy on individuals who make a major contribution to promoting and popularizing Czech classical music through lifelong work or extraordinary artistic achievements both in the Czech Republic and abroad. Awardees are selected by the Academic Council whose members include leading figures from the Czech art scene. This year, the Antonín Dvořák Prize, a crystal violincello made by Czech masters from the Moser Glassworks, has been awarded to Ivan Klánský, an exceptional personality on the international music scene, a respected interpreter of works by Chopin, Bach, Beethoven, Smetana, Dvořák, Janáček, and other renowned composers, an outstanding performer of chamber music, and a globally sought-after educator. "The award is a great honor, and I value highly to have been selected to join the geniuses who have received the Antonín Dvořák Prize in the past. Since Dvořák did not write a large number of compositions for the piano, for me, as a pianist, the award is that much more important in symbolizing appreciation for my lifelong work," said Klánský, the most recent awardee of the Antonín Dvořák Prize.

"I'm very pleased that this year we have had the honor to award the Antonín Dvořák Prize to Ivan Klánský," commented Robert Kolář, Director of the Classical Music Academy. "His multifaceted musical personality has been instrumental in forming both the Czech and international music scene for long many years. Like Antonín Dvořák in the past, Ivan Klánský is the prototype of a musician who in a natural way brings together his Czech roots with world class artistry in the best sense of the word," Kolář added.