05/11/2024
Meet our judges: Libor Nováček ((CZE)
Libor was born in Prague into a musical family, starting to learn the piano at the age of four with his uncle Miloslav Mikula. Once he had completed secondary school, he continued his studies with Mr Mikula at the Teplice Conservatory. In 1998, post A-levels, Libor trained with Professor Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he focused on improving his skills as a soloist. Between 1998 and 2010, he lived in London and performed and taught throughout the UK. He participated in many competitions during this time, winning a range of first prizes and awards such as the John Lill Piano Prize, Tunbridge Wells Young Concert Artist Competition, Dudley International Piano Competition, English Sinfonia Competition, Oxford International Music Competition and Young Concert Artist Trust (YCAT). Libor won the 4th prize at the 2006 AXA Dublin International Piano Competition and has been a Steinway and Sons artist since the same year. �
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He has been awarded a number of scholarships, which enabled him to study in the UK and take part in internships and masterclasses with internationally renowned teachers including Lazar Berman, Alexander Lonquich, John Perry, Dominique Merlet, Michelle Campanella, Julian Martin, Jean Efflam Bavouzet, Murray Perahia, Dmitri Bashkirov and others.
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Since 1994 Libor has regularly performed in the USA, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Great Britain, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, Malta, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Lebanon and India.�
Libor enjoyed his first successes on the stage as a young child but by the age of 25 he had performed at more than 2,000 concerts in major concert halls, among them the Musikhalle in Hamburg, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Kennedy Centre in Washington, Rudolfinum in Prague, Kaufmann Centre in New York, Montpellier in France, Tauromenium Hall in Pretoria, Salle Moliere in Lyon, halls in London, such as the Wigmore Hall, Southbank Centre (Royal Festival Hall a Queen Elisabeth Hall), Barbican Centre, Cadogan Hall, St
John’s Smith Square and Blackheath Halls, and in other British cities (Brighton, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol).
He made his debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 2009, has performed at London's Barbican Hall with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra at the Mostly Mozart Festival, and has worked regularly with the Czechoslovak Chamber Orchestra. He has also performed with the Prague Chamber Orchestra, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra, Hamburger Symphoniker, Philharmonie Südwestfallen, Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra, English Sinfonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and European Union Chamber Orchestra.
In 1994 he was the youngest Czech musician to record a debut CD for PANTON. In 2005 he won the Landor Records competition, which secured him a long-term CD-recording contract. The first recording with works by Ravel, Janáček, Debussy and Martinů was released in 2006. Another recording, featuring Liszt’s Years of Pilgrimage: Italy and Mephisto's Waltz No.1, was received enthusiastically and awarded Editor's Choice by "The Gramophone" magazine. In October 2007, this CD received the "Diplom d'Honneur" from the Ferenc Liszt Society in Budapest.
The recording of J. Brahms' compositions was awarded "Music Choice" in the BBC Music Magazine in August 2008, and the riveting interpretation described as completely new in comparison with the recordings by J. Katchen and S. Richter. Libor’s latest CD was a 2009 recording of F Liszt's Years of Pilgrimage: Switzerland and Consolations, which also received numerous awards and positive reviews.
Since 2014 Libor Nováček has been a lecturer of piano and chamber music at the Prague Conservatory. From 2015 to 2023 he was also a university lecturer at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Graz, Austria. He has given masterclasses in the USA, Great Britain, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Serbia and Lithuania. His students have won numerous awards at international competitions and he is a sought-after teacher who combines piano teaching with the principles of the Alexander Technique. Since 2023, he has
collaborated with and been a doctoral student at the Faculty of Pedagogy of Charles University in Prague, where, in addition to his teaching activities, he is engaged in the study and analysis of the piano works by Claude Debussy. Starting in 2024, he instructs piano and pedagogy at Charles University's Faculty of Pedagogy.
