Czech Pianist Kahanek’s Album Wins BBC Music Magazine Award

The winners of the 15th annual BBC Music Magazine Awards have been announced, with the Gabrieli Consort’s performance of Purcell’s King Arthur winning both the Opera Award and overall Recording of the Year.

This year’s BBC Music Magazine Personality of the Year Award went to American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, who has had a triumphant year, appearing at the Last Night of the Proms and making her title role debut as Orfeo in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice at the Metropolitan Opera.

Czech pianist Ivo Kahánek has won his very first BBC Music Magazine Award in the Concerto category for his recording of concertos by Dvořák and Martinů with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under Jakub Hrůša (Supraphon label). Composed some 80 years apart, Dvořák’s Piano Concerto in G minor and Martinů’s Piano Concerto No. 4 ‘Incantation’ represent two cornerstones of Czech music.

BBC Music Magazine is one of the world’s best-selling and most respected classical music magazines. Published in the UK, each issue contains the latest news from around the world, interviews with artists respected all across the globe.

Every month fans of classical music eagerly await the decision of the BBC Music Magazine reviewers on which of the records out of the vast global production will be selected as their “Choice” in each category (orchestra, chamber music, etc.) and which receive the highest recommendations and are awarded the title of the Recording of the Month. The ones that gain the most interest are then nominated for the annual BBC Music Magazine Awards.

Ivo Kahánek 

Ivo Kahánek is often referred to as the ‘Czech Chopin’ thanks to his sensitive, elegant, and singing expression, and many see him as the best Czech pianist of today. In September 2015 he was the main protagonist and curator of the Dvořák Prague Chamber Music Series.

In 2019 he took part in concert tours to Germany, Portugal, Mexico, Switzerland, Poland, and other countries. He regularly performs in the Czech Republic at international festivals such as the Prague Spring, Smetanova Litomyšl, Dvořák’s Prague, and others.

In 2019 he appeared in several concerts with the Czech Philharmonic under the baton of its new Chief Conductor, Semyon Bychkov.