Eliška Novotná
Piano, Chamber music, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Ostrava
Eliška Novotná made her debut by performing Mendelssohn´s Piano Concerto in G minor at the Tonhalle in Zürich (1998) and in Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum in Praque (2000). These performances followed her competition succeses: she triumphed in the Chopin Competition in Mariánské Lázně (1991), the Smetana Piano Competition in Hradec Králové (1992). the Janáček Competition in Brno (1994), the Beethoven Competition in Hradec nad Moravicí (1996), the Rahn Musikwettbewerb in Switzerland (1997), and the chamber music competition Marco Fiorindo in Torino, Italy (2002). Behind these and other achievements lies collaboration with distinguished educators such as Marta Toaderová (Conservatory of Ostrava) and Ivan Klánský, who accompanied Eliška Novotná during her studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and during a two-year study stay in Lucerne, Switzerland.
In addition to her concert activities, Eliška Novotná is continuously involved in recording. Her artistic work is closely linked with Czech Radio Ostrava. On compact discs, you can hear her interpretation of Chopin´s Piano Concerto in E minor (AMU 2001) and whole range of solo pieces from both world and Czech repertoires, for example, a CD featurning compositions by Czech masters titled „From My Homeland“ (Pro Records 2015). The most significant solo project is the recording od the complete piano works of Eduard Dřízga, for which she was nominated for the Jantar Prize (Radioservis 2020). Eliška Novotná has been involved in the creation of many recordings in the field of chamber music. She is a founding member of the Ensemble Moravia, with which she realized a CD featuring compositions by B. Martinů (Slovart 2000) and compositions for clarinet and piano (Hindemith, Schumann, Brahms, Berg; Pro Records 2007). In 2010, in colaboration with violinist Jakub Černohorský, cellist Jiří Hanousek, and clarinettist Igor Františák a CD with chamber compositions by Jaromír Podešva was released. Together with Halina Františáková and Alfred Strejček, they recorded a CD dedicated to W. Shakespeare: „Music Has the Power…“ (Pro Records 2016) and the CD „Through the Homeland´s Landscape“ (Pro Records 2017). In 2017, a CD with premiere recordings of compositions for cello and piano by Czech authors from the first half of the 20th century was released, on which she colaborated with Jiří Hanousek (Jirák, Vrána, Dobiáš; Radioservis 2017). Last year Supraphon released recordings created together with Pan flute player Liselotte Rokyta. The most recent project is the CD „Gradus ad Parnassum“, which captures the performance of compositions for four-hand piano by Czech composers along with pianist Lukáš Michel (Musica Gioia 2023).
Eliška Novotná teaches piano at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ostrava and the Leoš Janáček Elementary School of the Arts in Havířov.
