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Slávka Vernerová-Pěchočová
After her graduation from the conservatory in Pardubice under the guidance of prof .M. Hršel she studied piano in Prague’s Academy of Performing Arts with Ivan Moravec from 1998-2003. Afterwards, in 2007 she completed her doctoral studies. The theme of her dissertation was the complete work by Leoš Janáček. Pěchočová also participated in master courses held by Nelly Akopian, and in 2002 she completed the graduate program at the Royal College of Music in London. She won the International Smetana’s piano competition in Hradec Králové in 1996 and is a laureate of several other domestic and foreign performance competitions, Wroclav 1995, Missouri 1998, and Wales 2001. She played repeatedly for the Youth Podium Festival in Carlsbad, and in 2004 she was invited as a soloist for the matinee concert in Prague’s Spring Festival.Pěchočová played with various orchestras at their home bases (Czech philharmony, FOK, etc.) as well as abroad (Gunma Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Orchestra) conducted by Libor Pešek, Jiří Bělohlávek, Martin Turnovský, Jakub Hrůša, etc. In the summer of 2009 she was invited to be a guest player with BBC’s Symphony Orchestra in the Royal Albert Hall in London during the Prom’s Festival. She also performed solo recitals in series of concerts (e.g. World Piano Music in Prague, Tonhalle in Zurich, Concert Series in Osaka,etc.). The pianist also pursues chamber music: she plays in a piano duet and a Spring duo and she is a sought-after partner for collaboration among leading instrumentalists and ensembles in the Czech music scene (Pavel Haas Quartet, Pražák Quartet, Bennewitz Quartet, Zemlinsky Quartet). Czech television broadcasted a 40 minute documentary of her life in 2002 (directed by Jan Mudra).
