Born in Prague in 1998, Vilem Vlcek received his first cello lessons at the age of six with Martin Skampa and was accepted into the class of Martin and Mirko Skampa at the Prague Music Gymnasium in 2010. Since 2018 he has been studying at the Musik-Akademie Basel in the class of Danjulo Ishizaka. In addition to his studies, he has taken part in various master classes with Yo-Yo Ma, Frans Helmerson, Steven Isserlis, Richard Aaron, Marek Jerie, Alisa Weilerstein, Michal Kanka and Denis Severin, among others.

Vilem Vlcek is a winner of various national and international competitions such as the Cello Competition in Liezen, the Talents for Europe, the Heran Cello Competition (first prize and winner of all categories), the Czech Conservatoires Competition (winner of all categories), Concertino Praga (laureate and EMCY prize), the Cello Competition Jan Vychytil (winner of all categories) and the Bohuslav Martinů Competition. As a member of the Kukal Quartet, he received a third prize at the Prague Spring Music Festival.

As a soloist, Vilem Vlcek has performed with many renowned orchestras, such as the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Basel Chamber Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Kaunas Symphony Orchestra, the North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Zielona Góra Philharmonic Orchestra, the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra or the Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen. He has played under conductors such as Jiří Bělohlávek, Petr Altrichter, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Jiří Rožeň, Joonas Pitkänen and Nicolas Ellis, which has taken him to concert halls such as the Elbphilharmonie, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Rudolfinum and Victoria Hall.

In 2020, the young cellist received a scholarship from the Rahn Kulturfonds and at Rahn Musikpreis 2022 he won the first prize in the category for violoncello.

Vilem Vlcek plays on a Guadagnini cello made available to him by the Czech Musical Instrument Collection.

Application

The board of trustees of the Rahn Kulturfonds meets twice a year and will consider all fully completed applications received.

Next board meeting:
4 April 2023

Rahn Kulturfonds supports requests regarding a contribution to the performance fees if:

• it is a project with or by Rahn Kulturfonds prize winners.
• it is a project with Rahn Kulturfonds scholarship holders.

Rahn Kulturfonds supports its prize winners and scholarship holders during four years after receiving the award.

For the board meeting on 4 April 2023, please hand in your complete application no later than 13 March 2023 by email or by filling out the following form.