Contestant

Jan Čmejla was born in 2003 in Prague. He has been playing the piano since the age of six. He got the first musical education at the Music School of Ilja Hurník and at the Secondary School and the Music School of the City of Prague, where he studied under the guidance of professor Taťána Vejvodová and Lukáš Klánský. Since 2018 he has been studying the Prague Conservatory under the guidance of Prof. Eva Boguniová. He is also studying with Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim. Jan has won several music competitions, such as the international competition Virtuosi per musica di pianoforte in Ústí nad Labem (2013, 2018), Chopin for the Youngest (2015), Novak International Piano Competition (2015), Peter Toperczer International Piano Competition Košice (2017; 2nd prize), Beethoven’s Teplice (2018) and Concertino Praga (2019). He is a laureate of the prestigious prize “Golden Nut“ (2013) addressed to the most talented children in the Czech Republic and of the Kern Foundation Prize awarded by excellent Russian pianist Olga Kern. Santa Cecilia (2021), IMF Paris (2021),the 2nd prize at Orbetello competition 2021-for pianists up to 35 years old or the Victory Award at the Carles and Sofia International piano competition 2021. In 2019, Jan has made his USA recital debut in Washington D.C. in the prestigious Kennedy center. He gave concerts also in New York and Chicago. In 2021 Jan, as the youngest participant has received the 1st prize at the Concours International de Piano d’Epinal 2022 which takes place in 4 round with the age limit of 32 years. He also received the prize of the public. Thanks to his success in music competitions he had the opportunity to perform with the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra (2014), the Prague Symphonic Orchestra (2015, 2017), the North Czech Philharmonic Teplice (2019), the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra (2019) and performed at the Prague Music Festival 2016 with violinist Václav Hudeček. In 2021 has performed the Chopin piano concerto in e-minor with the Košice philharmonic orchestra under the baton of Leoš Svárovský. His artistic inspiration is the Chinese pianist Lang Lang, with whom he personally met in Vienna as a participant in the Allianz Junior Music Camp 2015, which is annually dedicated to a dozen selected talents from around the world. In his free time Jan likes to meet with his friends, travel to the sea, read and watch movies.