Open Application Winner (instrumentalist), 2024-25

Soon to make his Carnegie Hall debut recital, Czech violinist Kryštof Kohout has recently appeared at Barbican Hall playing the Berg Violin Concerto and as a laureate of the Bartók World Competition in Budapest, he has performed the Beethoven Concerto in the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. 

Kryštof regularly performs as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe and the USA at venues including Wigmore Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Musikverein Vienna and festivals such as Gstaad Menuhin Festival, International Chamber Music Festival Plovdiv, Nordlysfestivalen, Schiermonnikoog Festival, Northern Chords, Smetana Days and Young Euro Classic. Solo appearances with orchestras include the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra, Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Moravian Chamber Soloists, London Classical Orchestra and Guildhall Symphony Orchestra working with conductors including Tomáš Netopil, János Kovács, Koji Kawamoto, Tomáš Brauner and Ondřej Kukal.

He is a winner and laureate of numerous competitions and awards including the Royal Over-Seas League Competition, Kocian Violin Competition, Art-Duo International Music Festival in Vienna and the Muse International Music Competition. His performances have been broadcast on international radio and TV including on the Czech Radio, Dutch Concert Radio, the BBC as well as Czech and Dutch national television. Most recently he made a recording of George Walker’s Violin Sonata no. 1 in collaboration with the Barbican Centre and BBC Radio 3 for their Total Immersion series.

An avid chamber musician, Kryštof is a founding member of the Fibonacci Quartet, who perform widely throughout the UK and Europe and have recently won first prizes in the Royal Over-Seas League Competition and Cavatina Chamber Music Competition at Wigmore Hall. The quartet are currently fellows at the International Institute for Chamber Music in Madrid under the guidance of Günter Pichler (former leader of the Alban Berg Quartett). 

Kryštof is currently studying at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama as a full scholarship student with professor David Takeno (violin), Pavlo Beznosiuk (baroque violin) and David Dolan (classical improvisation). Aside from his formal studies, he has worked with masters such as Midori, Leonidas Kavakos, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Pierre Amoyal and Josef Špaček and attended international courses including IMS Prussia Cove and Kronberg Violin Masterclasses.

Kryštof is grateful for the generous support he receives through the Parikian Award, Countess of Munster Trust, Hattori Foundation, Harrison-Frank Family Foundation and Velehrad London. 

Violin

Kryštof Kohout

 (Violin), Open Application instrumentalist winner

Greek playwright, Aristophanes, wrote: “I am Ekho, the Nymphe who repeats all she hears.” 

Similarly, thematic fragments are repeated by the solo violin in Mieczysław Weinberg’s 

. These “replicas” evolve as the work progresses, with subtle changes in rhythm, pitch, and articulation, that slowly increase tension. Born in Poland, the composer was forced to flee to Russia in 1939. His unique sense of form, harmony and colour, he said, was informed by “[his] first music teacher…life.” 

Performed by Czech violinist Kryštof Kohout, 

 opens a dynamic programme in which solo violin unites, pushes and echoes the traditions and influences of the past. 

Ekho’s beautiful singing voice seems to resonate in Heinrich Biber’s meditative work 

 — “The Guardian Angel”. Each repetition creates a new, ever-shifting impression, layering into a rich, narrative path. Part of his Mystery Sonatas, Biber engages deeply with Catholic mysticism and devotional meditation. As the oldest surviving solo violin work, he adheres to a strict counterpoint style, while expressing a fascination with the spiritual and religious realm. 

Ultimately, Ekho was cursed by goddess Hera for her endless, distracting chatter. Likewise, nineteenth century German composer, Telemann, was perceived to have written too much music, with quantity far outweighing quality. Yet his 

 demonstrate the intimate succinctness of a self-taught violinist. The first movement of the 

 is a gentle, singing Dolce, with Polish and Moravian folk elements that are never overshadowed by its technical complexity. 

Folk elements dominate Roxanna Panufnik’s 

 – an Eastern European circular dance. A British composer of Polish descent, Panufnik draws inspiration from Romanian melodies and intricate yet playful folk rhythms. This witty energy transforms in our next piece, with Weinberg’s raw and rustic, 

. Interweaving and clashing intervals become more estranged amongst strong rhythmic elements and a turbulent dynamic range, creating a harmonic language that, like the rest of the programme, pushes limits. 

Ekho was cursed with having to repeat the last words spoken to her. Perhaps this inspired the 

, a repeated progression always found in the bass voice. The first movement of his Bartók’s 

 features this continuous echo, amidst modernist harmonic language, complex rhythms and deep folk influences. Violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who commissioned the piece, at first believed it was “almost unplayable”. On exploring its intense emotional landscape, expressed originally in quarter-tones and chromatic slithers, he declared it was, in fact, “the most important composition for violin alone since Bach.”

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Kryštof Kohout

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