Vladimír Bukač

Vladimír Bukač (*1964) is among the leading violists in the Czech Republic. Born in Prague, Vladimír Bukač began first violin studies at an early age and continued with Nora Grumlíková at the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts, followed by studies with Wolfgang Marschner at the University of Music Freiburg.

During his studies he won several national and international competitions.
From 1990 to 1993 he was engaged in Japan as a solo violist and chamber musician at the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, performing in the country’s foremost venues and touring Australia and New Zealand. After returning to Europe, he joined the renowned Talich Quartet (1993–2017), long regarded as one of the world’s finest string quartets. With the Talich Quartet he toured entire Europe, Japan, the Americas and South Korea, made numerous internationally award‑winning recordings and gave masterclasses at prestigious music institutions worldwide.
Since leaving the quartet in 2017, he has concentrated on solo and chamber music performance and on teaching activities. Vladimír Bukač is a highly sought‑after professor of viola and chamber music: since 2002 at the Hochschule für Musik Dresden and since 2017as well as at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. He is regularly invited to serve on juries of major international competitions (e.g. L. Tertis, ARD Munich and others).
He is artistic director of the masterclasses of the Music Academy Telč in Czech Republic (www.akademietelc.cz) and is frequently invited to festivals across Europe (Helsinki, Sardinia, Prades, International Holland Music Session and others.), as well as in Japan, Israel and the USA, collaborating with distinguished artists. A concert he gave in the BBC’s “International Recitals” series from Bristol was broadcast live to some 60 countries had a hugely positive response in the music world.
His extensive viola repertoire spans many styles; numerous works have been recorded for Czech Radio and the BBC. Notable recordings include complete suites by Max Reger and a recording of concertos by Béla Bartók and Bohuslav Martinů with the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, which was listed among Gramophone’s Top 10 CDs in 2007. He made the first complete recording of the Czech composer Jindřich Feld’s sonatas for viola and piano, further he recorded the B‑flat major concerto by A. Stamic and produced the world premiere recording of the viola concerto by F. Domažlický (1966) with the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra. Several of his CDs have been selected as Classic CD’s “Choice of the Month” and praised in The Strad and Gramophone.