Zdenka Součková

Director

has been running the American Spring Festival since 2015. She graduated from the Prague Conservatory in the field of opera singing with Professor Brigita Šulcová, majored in cultural studies at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, and in ethology at the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University.

Under her leadership, the festival program has continued to expand. She has succeeded in reaching out to outstanding artists from America and the Czech Republic and inviting them to participate in the festival. Zdenka Součková has built new important international contacts and developed them to further enhance the festival quality and profile.

Jan Bartoš

Artistic Director

is described as “one of Europe’s best pianists” and “a sensitive and sophisticated performer”. His albums for Supraphon have been recognized by both domestic and foreign critics (Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, The Sunday Times, Diapason, and many others). Jan Bartoš has performed in many European countries as well as in Asia and the U.S. (Carnegie Hall, Juilliard School, Rockefeller University, New York). In 2009, he debuted in New York in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 with Manhattan Philharmonic. Jan Bartoš is the winner of three competitions in New York – 2009 Mieczyslaw Munz, 2008 Zaslavsky-Koch and 2004 Peter S. Reed. He is also a holder of the prestigious Rucorva Trust Award in the Netherlands, the Schimmel Prize in Germany and a scholarship holder of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic. He holds a Professional Studies Diploma from the Manhattan School of Music in New York and a doctorate from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.