Lucáš Vondrácek, piano
Lukáš Vondráček made his debut with the Czech Philharmonic under Vladimir Ashkenazy in May 2002 with concerts in Prague and Italy, and has since appeared frequently with the orchestra. Engagements have included a major US tour, concerts in Cologne, Vienna, Lucerne and Bad Kissingen. He made his Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra debut in March 2005.

Vondráček gave his first public performance at the age of four. In the intervening years he gave many recitals and concerto performances throughout his home country of the Czech Republic, as well as abroad. His natural and assured musicality, alongside a remarkable technical ability, mark him out as a gifted and already mature musician, already well on the way to building the foundations of a major career. Having already spent time studying at the Academy of Music in Katowice and at the Vienna Hochschule, Lukáš Vondrácek is now continuing his studies at the University in his home town of Ostrava. He has performed in various piano festivals in the United States, including the Gilmore Festival, the Ravinia Rising Stars Series and the New York International Piano series.

He has made recital debuts at Paris La Cité, the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels and Auditorio Nacional in Madrid as well as at the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festival. His UK recital debut was at the Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of the International Piano Series, where he became the youngest pianist ever featured in the series. As a concert soloist, he has made his debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Orchestra. Vondráček has also worked with other international orchestras such as St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Flemish Radio Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Iceland Symphony, Dallas Symphony and has toured with the NHK Symphony in Japan.

Projects during the current season include his recital debuts at Zürich Tonhalle and Dortmund's The Next Generation Festival, a return to Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and his debuts with the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, BBC Philharmonic and Cedar Rapids Symphony. For the second half of 2007, engagements are planned with West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo, NDR Symphony Orchestra Hamburg as well as a tour of Europe with the Australian Youth Orchestra.

His first commercial recording, a solo album featuring works by Mendelssohn, Liszt, Janáček and Dohnányi for Octavia records, was released in 2004.