Talich Chamber Orchestra

The Talich Chamber Orchestra (TCO) was formed in 1992 by the violinist Jan Talich Jr., the great-nephew of the legendary Czech conductor Václav Talich. Jan Talich plays violin A.Stradivarius 1729. The Talich name evokes the strong repute of a tradition of Czech musicians, but more than that it embodies a commitment to great artistic responsibility. In recent years Jan Talich, as the orchestra’s artistic director, has been devoting a large part of his professional career to conducting the orchestra, whose members are graduates of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and winners of numerous prizes internationally and at home. The orchestra’s members show a level of professionalism under the distinctive direction of Jan Talich that guarantees the highest quality of musical interpretation at the orchestra’s concerts. The TCO has received strong acclaim from both Czech and foreign critics and artists.
Today the Talich Chamber Orchestra can be compared among the ranks of other top chamber orchestras. This is thanks to the fact that it has worked with a number of prominent conductors, including Sir Charles Mackerras, Vladimír Válek, and Josef Suk.
The TCO also consistently works with the best Czech soloists, such as Josef Suk (violin), Václav Hudeček (violin), Gabriela Deméterová (violin), Pavel Šporcl (violin) Jiří Bárta (violoncello), Michal Kaňka (violoncello), Jana Boušková (harp), Petr Jiříkovský (piano), Karel Košárek (piano), Ludmila Peterková (clarinet), Radek Baborák (French horn), Magdalena Kožená (Mezzo-Soprano, Soprano)and Roman Janál (Baritone), Karel Dohnal (klarinet). .
The TCO has also worked with internationally renowned foreign artists,for example Shlomo Mintz (violin), Chen Halevi (clarinet), Patricie Fontanarosa (violin), Quirine Viersen (violoncello), Konstantin Lifschitz (piano)and Michel Lethiec (clarinet), Marie Devellereau (soprano), Staffan Martensson (clarinette), Federic Lodeón (conductor), Ophélie Gaillard (violoncelle), Alexei Ogrintchouck (hautbois), Dále Elina Vähälä (violin), Ralf Gothoni (piano), Maurizio Moretti (piano), Alexander Hülshoff (violoncello), Gil Sharon (violin).

The TCO performs regularly at a number of music festivals, like the Prague Spring and the Prague Autumn international music festivals, the Český Krumlov Chamber Music Festival, the Prague Music Festival, and the Music Festival Talich’s Beroun, and it also plays concerts abroad (Spain, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Croatia, Italy).
The TCO records CDs for Czech and foreign music companies (including the French EMI Records), and it is currently working on its own CD projects. In the Czech Republic one of the CDs it recorded is a collection covering works from the Baroque up to the 20th century, from Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos to Strauss’s Metamorphosis and Schönberg’s Transfigured Night. The orchestra has also recorded a number of other independent CDs; examples of this work include an arrangement of Brahms’s Hungarian Dances interpreted by the French violinist Patrice Fontanarosa and Czech Musical Treasures, with Josef Suk and Zuzana Růžičková.
On the 250th anniversary of the birth of the W.A. Mozart the TCO recorded a new CD with compositions for violin and orchestra. The violin solos are played by Jan Talich.

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Concert master

Helena Jiříkovská - violin

Helena Jiříkovská (1973) started to play violin at the age of four. In 1988 - 1994 she studied at the Pilsen Conservatory with Prof. Jindřiška Holotová.
In 1994 she was accepted to study at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (Prof. Jiří Tomášek) as well as at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin (Prof. Jan Tomeš).

Helena Jiříkovská has participated in several solo and chamber master-classes (E. Gratch, A. Lysy, Isaac Stern, J. Ghestem and J. Repko).
She is the concertmaster of the Talich Chamber Orchestra, with which she performs as a soloist as well.
As a soloist Helena Jiříkovská gives concerts in the Czech Republic and in several countries of Europe. In March 2000 she performed Beethoven's Triple Concerto with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra.
She has made a number of recordings for Czech Radio.