JAN GOTTLIEB JIRACEK

Born into a German-Czechoslovakian family of musicians, 32-year-old German pianist Jan Gottlieb Jiracek was described by BBC Music Magazine as one of the leading pianists of his generation.

He won the first prize at the Steinway Competition in Hamburg at age ten, and made his formal debut the following year in his hometown of Hanover, performing a piano concerto by Mozart. Mr. Jiracek has since performed extensively throughout Europe, including recitals at the Herkulessaal Munich, Philharmonie Berlin, Steinway Hall London, Salle Cortot Paris, Palau de la musica Barcelona, Tonhalle Zurich, Konzerthaus Vienna, Musikhalle Hamburg and the Gewandhaus Leipzig, as well as orchestral appearances with the Berlin and St. Petersburg Philharmonics, Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the Northern Sinfonia of England.

A top prize winner at both the 1996 Busoni Competition and the 1996 Maria Canals Competition, Jan Gottlieb Jiracek was a finalist at the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1997, where he was a favorite of critics and audiences alike. Following his success at the Cliburn Competition, he was invited to join the roster of Community Concerts, resulting in more than 80 performances throughout the United States. Recent engagements included recitals at the Tilles Center at Long Island University, the University of Vermont Lane Series, and Spivey Hall in Atlanta. He also performed with the Washington Chamber Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Riverside Symphony at the Lincoln Center in New York and with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra at the recently opened Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall, performing three piano concertos, including Gershwin’s Rhapsody in blue.

Jan Gottlieb Jiracek has been featured on several European radio and television stations, including ZDF, SFB Berlin, Deutschlandradio, Radio Hilversum, Radio Stockholm, and Radio France, and on NDR as a soloist with the NDR Symphony Orchestra.

A 1997 graduate of the Hochschule der Künste Berlin, he studied with Hans Leygraf and has performed in masterclasses with Alfred Brendel and Bruno Leonardo Gelber, among others. Jan Gottlieb Jiracek gives master classes on a regular basis in America and Asia, as well as at the "Wiener Musikseminar". He was appointed professor for piano at the prestigious School of music in Vienna, Austria ("Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien”) in 2001, making him the youngest tenured professor in the history of that school.