About

Marek Švejkar (1995), the first Czech clarinettist accepted and graduated at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, winner of many international competitions, scholarship holder of the Fondation de France, Mécénat Société Générale, Fondation Legs Jabès, The Kellner Family Foundation, supported by Pavel Tykač and The Věra Třebická-Řivnáčová Foundation, former member of the Academy of Chamber Music and teacher at the Hudební gymnázium České Budějovice.

He graduated from the Prague Conservatory in the classes of Ludmila Peterková and Milan Polák and studied for a concert diploma at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris with Franck Amet and Paul Meyer. He graduated and won the Premier Prix at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris in the classes of Philippe Berrod and Jerôme Comte. For several years he has specialized in the works of the renowned composer/conductor/pianist Pierre Boulez and is currently a doctoral student at the University of Ostrava in the class of Karel Dohnal. Gradually he started to gain experience from a large number of concerts and music competitions, e.g.. Concorso Internazionale per Clarinetto Carlino (IT) – 1. prize; Markneukirchener Wettbewerb (DE) - absolute winner; Soutěž konzervatoří a hudebních gymnázií ČR – 1. prize; Międzynarodowy Konkurs Instrumentów Dętych (POL) – 1. prize; Concorso Internazionale per Clarinetto Bari „Saverio Mercadante“ (IT) – 1. prize; Klarinetová soutěž „Czech Clarinet Art“ (CZ) – 1. prize; Concorso Internazionale per Clarinetto Breno (IT) – 2. prize.

In 2023 he performed with the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava and a few months earlier in the scope of the Brno Philharmonic on the occasion of the 60th birthday of composer Benjamin Yusupov. In 2022, Marek performed at the Cairo Opera House for the Czech Republic's presidency of the EU. For the third year, he will teach as a mentor at the 14. International Clarinet Masterclasses in Domažlice alongside Ludmila Peterková and Vitor Fernandes. Since the same year he has been the ambassador of Vandoren for the Czech Republic. In 2019, he was invited to Washington D.C. where he had the honor of performing at the 30th Anniversary of the Velvet Revolution and also performed with members of the Karajan Akademie of the Berlin Philharmonic in Berlin. A year earlier he had played with the Orchestre de Paris and the Ensemble Intercontemporain at the Paris Philharmonic under the batons of Daniel Harding, Matthias Pintscher and Sakari Oramo. In the same year, he became a temporary member of Ensemble ECCE (Ensemble of Temporary Collective Creation), which is sponsored by IRCAM (Institute for the Creation of Modern Music). He was also invited to make his solo debut at the Prague Spring festival, which took place in May 2017 at the Rudolfinum in Prague. He collaborated with soloist Eva Garajová in recording an album for ArcoDiva and was also invited to record a solo album by Philippe Berrod. In 2015 he was successfully selected as a soloist for the Academy of Chamber Music, where he worked until 2020 and in January 2014 he performed as a soloist with the Czech Philharmonic under the baton of Jiří Bělohlávek. In the past he has performed with leading Czech orchestras and collaborated with important musical personalities such as Martin Fröst, Charles Neidich, Yehuda Gilade, Florent Charpentier, Karel Leister, Paolo Beltramini, Calogero Palermo, Ivo Kahánek, Jiří Bělohlávek, Bruno Mantovani, Boris Garlitsky, Tomáš Jamník, Ecesu Sertesen, Hae-Sun Kang, Philippe Bernold etc.