Czechia’s most accomplished harpist Kateřina Englichová

Kateřina Englichová is one of the most sought after European harpists of her generation. She has appeared on stages in world capitals including New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Rome and Paris, performing with leading ensembles and artists such as Mstislav Rostropovitch, Josef Suk, and Cynthia Phelps. 

The great-granddaughter of Johana Cavallarová, a soubrette at the National Theatre in Prague and granddaughter of Vladimír Weiss a gifted  architect, painter, and pianist, Katerina Englichova inherited a passion for music and the discipline required to make her a top-notch artist.

Kateřina Englichová|Photo: Lukáš Hurník, Czech Radio

Chance also worked in her favour –the communist regime fell and borders opened, giving her the opportunity to spread her wings. She studied harp at the Prague Conservatory and, in 1989, the year of the Velvet Revolution, received a Fulbright scholarship to the United States, where she continued her studies with Marilyn Costello at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Many years later she recalled how professionally enriching those five years were.

“It was, of course, an enormous experience and opportunity that quite literally threw me into a completely different world. It was a time of change in our country, and suddenly I found myself at a prestigious school — the Curtis Institute of Music — and later I even won an audition to perform as a substitute with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

“I suddenly had the chance to work with conductors such as Leonard Bernstein and Riccardo Muti, and to see on a daily basis artists like Mstislav Rostropovich, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Pinchas Zukerman — truly the top names in our musical world.

“My professor and I got along wonderfully; she gave me the space to become independent, build my repertoire, and audition. I took part in world-renowned festivals like Tanglewood, the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, and Red Music in Israel. Outside of music, I also studied a lot of English literature and poetry — Shakespeare, art history — I literally experienced what “learning through play” means.”

Kateřina Englichová made her American recital debut in Carnegie Hall, New York in 1998 and went from success to success. Her playing, praised for its luminous tone and clarity, has taken her from Europe’s leading concert halls to stages across North America, Japan, Hong Kong, and New Zealand.

Kateřina Englichová|Photo: Vojtěch Havlík, Czech Radio

The venues where she has played include the Beethoven Saal in Bonn, Chamber Music Hall of the Berlin Philharmonic, Auditorio Nacional de Musica de Madrid, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the City Hall Hongkong, Longy School of Music Boston, and the Rudolfinum in Prague where she is a frequent guest performer.

She loves performing Bach, Mahler, Strauss, Mozart, Dvořák, Ravel, and Debussy, but also modern composers like Zdeněk Lukáš, Sylvie Bodorová, and Luboš Fišer.

And, coming back full circle – she is now a professor and teaches harp at the Prague Conservatory from which she herself graduated. Her art is captured on numerous recordings.

For more information on Katerina Englichova go to: www.englichova.cz