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Tomáš Jamník is a Czech cellist, currently residing in Berlin. Recognized for his in-depth knowledge of each performed piece, attention to detail, and strong interest in bringing less-well-known music to a wider audience, Tomáš has established himself as a celebrated soloist in both classical and contemporary music.
Bio
In 2006 he won the Prague Spring International Music Competition and became one of the youngest laureates of the competition.
At the Prague Spring competition he was awarded a number of special prizes, including the Czech Radio Prize, the Oleg Podgorny Prize, the Gideon Klein Foundation Prize, the Pro Harmonia Mundi Foundation Prize and the Artist’s Life Foundation Prize. He was also a finalist and winner of a special prize at the Pierre Fournier Award 2011 in London.
Since then, Tomáš has performed extensively with top international orchestras in Europe, the U.S., and Asia, including the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Philharmonia, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra London. As a chamber musician he has performed with pianists Leif Ove Andsnes and Ivo Kahánek, violinist Josef Špaček, mezzosoprano Magdalena Kožená, the Pavel Haas Quartet, and his “home ensemble” the Dvořák Trio at venues such as London’s Barbican Hall, the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Kitara Hall in Osaka, Prague’s Rudolfinum, and the Mozarteum in Salzburg.
"In my performance, I want to deliver not only an immersive emotional experience, but also to capture all the small details that the piece contains."
In addition to the classical repertoire, Tomáš also brings to life lesser-known compositions, and in 2019 he performed his own arrangement of Dvořák's Cello Concerto in A major and Jan Ryant Dřízal's "Narcissus" with the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra. He also performed the Czech premiere of the work "Tales of Hemingway" by American composer Michael Daugherty. Tomáš’s keen interest in contemporary music has also led him to premiere works by Czech composers Miroslav Srnka, Michal Nejtek, Slavomír Hořínka, Marko Ivanović, Tomáš ‘Floex' Dvořák, Miloš Orson Štědroň, Michal Rataj, Jiří Gemrot and Ondřej Kukal.
"Contemporary music means a lot to me. I enjoy the situation when I can communicate directly with the author. And maybe even influence a little bit how the final face of the piece will look like."
In the recent season has Tomáš performed Jan Novák's Capriccio for Cello and Orchestra with the Prague Symphony Orchestra at the Prague Spring Festival, as well as several concerts with Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto with Czech orchestras and the Slovak Radio Orchestra. In September 2023, he premiered his composition Devil’s Whim, written for him and the Academy of Chamber Music by Jiří Gemrot, at the Dvořák Prague Festival. In the spring of 2024 he will reappear in a chamber programme with Josef Špaček, with whom he has released the critically acclaimed album Paths, dedicated to compositions by Czech composers. As part of the Prague Symphony Orchestra Chamber Series, he will perform with the Czech Chamber Music Academy under the direction of Václav Lukes in Mysliveček's Cello Concerto in C major.
"The concert is a festive event for me. I love playing for the audience!"
Alongside his classical career, Tomáš is an enthusiastic educator and popularizer of classical music. Since 2015, he has served as the artistic director of the Czech Chamber Music Academy, which cooperates with the German foundation Villa Musica, and in 2019 he became the artistic director of the Ševčík Academy, which focuses on advancing the teaching method of the legendary pedagogue Otakar Ševčík. In 2016, he founded the Vážný zájem (“Serious interest”) project, which helps organize classical music concerts in people’s homes. To date, the project has facilitated hundreds of house concerts with hundreds of musicians involved. In the wake of this success, Tomáš has been invited to speak about classical music at many events - most recently at TEDx Prague.
He is the author of the Serious Interest initiative, which promotes the idea of house concerts and has helped to organize hundreds of concerts to date with the participation of top professionals as well as enthusiastic amateurs.
Tomáš began his musical training in the Czech Republic under Mirko and Martin Škampa and graduated under Josef Chuchro at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts. He continued at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig under Peter Bruns and at the Universität der Künste Berlin under Jens Peter Maintz. He enriched his education at the Karajan Academy in Berlin under Ludwig Quandt and at the Kronberg Academy under Steven Isserlis, Siegfried Palm, Young-Chang Cho and Pieter Wispelwey, as well as by participating in master classes given by Heinrich Schiff, Jiří Bárta, Gustav Rivinius and Truls Mørk. In 2023, he completed his six-month stay in the USA on a Fulbright-Masaryk Fellowship, which gave him the opportunity to lecture and perform in New York and other American states. From autumn 2024 he will become a professor at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno.
Tomáš plays a violoncello made by Lorenzo Storioni in 1784, which was generously lent to him from the private collection of Mr. Aleš Voverka.