Josef Špaček (violinist)

Early life and education

Špaček was born in 1986 in Třebíč, Czech Republic, to a family with musical tradition. His father, Josef Špaček Sr., is a prominent cellist with the Czech Philharmonic and his siblings have also studied music. Špaček studied at the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School and the Prague Conservatory. Among his teachers have been Itzhak Perlman, Václav Hudeček, Ida Kavafian, Jaime Laredo and Shmuel Ashkenasi.

Professional career

Špaček finished his master's degree at the Juilliard School in 2011 and had received an offer to serve as the concert master of the Czech Philharmonic already in late 2010. He took up the job in 2011 and works both in the orchestra and as a solo violinist. In 2012, he was one of the finalists at the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition and is a laureate of the Michael Hill International Violin Competition (New Zealand, 2009), Carl Nielsen International Music Competition (Denmark, 2008) and others. He is represented by Goldscheider Artists and Nymus Artists.

Concerts and recordings

He has performed and recorded with prominent conductors and pianists. His debut recording of Eugène Ysaÿe's sonatas came out in 2006. In 2010, he recorded Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst's work with Naxos and in 2013, his first Supraphon label recording was made with the works of Sergei Prokofiev, Bedřich Smetana and Leoš Janáček.

Špaček has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic orchestra, Prague Philharmonia, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, National Orchestra of Belgium, Czech Chamber Orchestra, Brno Philharmonic, Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, the Russian Chamber Philharmonic and other orchestras. Among conductors he has worked with have been Jiří Bělohlávek, Christoph Eschenbach, Manfred Honeck, James DePreist, Asher Fisch, Roy Goodman, Jakub Hrůša, Eliahu Inbal and Rossen Milanov.

Špaček performed at a recital at the Prague Spring International Music Festival in 2013.