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The newly appointed concertmaster of the Prague Philharmonia and the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra Barbora Kolářová has been described as a “fevered” and “theatrical” performer with “a taste for the dramatic” (New York Times), having “remarkably strong, rich tone, terrific rhythm drive and technical brilliance” (Whole Note), and “adventurous musical personality” (Classical Modern Music). Barbora is recognized as one of the foremost violinists to emerge from the Czech Republic in recent years. “Ms. Kolářová is an artist of creative balances, always looking back and looking forward to find new fulcrums between past and present. Trained in the classical tradition, Kolářová's artistic voice is oriented towards minute details and virtuosity, but with a creative intent to use these skills to generate new standards in classical music by collaborating with living composers on new works, and uncovering lost works from the past.
Her latest projects include premiere performances and collaborative new works for violin including Pascal Le Boeuf's "Imp in Impulse”, David Ludwig's "Violin Concerto No.2," Sheridan Seyfried's "Capriccio for Solo Violin", Alyssa Weinberg's "Unstrung", Antonio Sanz “Theme and Variations”, Daniel Withworth's “Alma” for solo violin and electronics, numerous works by Rain Worthington, Nicholas Hubbell and most recently premiere of “All Kinds of Fire Inside Our Heads” for violin and pre recorded electronics by Che Buford , “Triple Concerto” for violin and percussion duo by Pascal Le Boeuf and “Keruvim” for solo violin by David Ludwig.
Her debut album 'Imp in Impulse' (New Focus/Furious Artisans) consists of unreleased virtuosic solo works ranging from 1963 to the present by Jean Françaix, Klement Slavický, and Pascal Le Boeuf. Solo album 'Imp in Impulse' has been voted 'Best of 2020' by “An Earful” and Barbora's performance described as “spectacular” with “as much personality as skill” (An Earful), having “considerable virtuosity harnessed to a nicely overarching expressivity” with a “very own personal stamp” (Classical Modern Music).
Recent appearances include, solo and chamber music concerts at Carnegie Hall, Philadelphia’s Verizon Hall, the Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Cultural Centre in Hong Kong, Dewan Philharmonik Petronas in Kuala Lumpur, Musikverein and the Wiener Kozerthaus in Vienna, Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall, Lisinski Hall in Zagreb, and the Dvorana Hall/ Union Hall in Maribor, Slovenia.
As a soloist and a highly demanded chamber musician she appeared at festivals such as the Haydn Music Festival,Young Prague Festival, 2012 Miloš Forman Festival presenting “Czech Music of the 60’s” in the National Arts Gallery in Washington DC, The Sound of Piano, Strings & Voice China International Music Festival in Xi’an, Malaysian Philharmonic Chamber Music Series, Curtis Summerfest, Artosphere Music Festival, Manchester Music Festival, Unruly Sounds, Philadelphia Virtual Phestival, Recital Stream, TURN UP festival and collaborated with orchestras such as the Contemporary Youth Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Czech Radio Symphony, the Czech National Theatre Orchestra, the West Bohemia Symphony Orchestra, the Limoges Orchestra, and the Academy Sinfonietta Orchestra.
In addition to touring internationally as a soloist, Barbora was as a visiting performing artist of the Czech Philharmonic (2013-2016), visiting concertmistress of the Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais in Brazil (2017-2018) and a Lincoln Center Stage artist (2016-2019). She was also a regular substitute co-principal second violinist of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (2015-2020).
Barbora has received awards from a number of international competitions including Spotlight winner for Lincoln Center Stage, laureate prizes at the Golden Classical Music Awards International Music Competition in NYC, the Manhattan International Music Competition, and the Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition in Salzburg, Austria. Recipient of the Broadus Erle Prize and a holder of The Special Diploma at the Vadim Repin Master class Scholarship Competition, Barbora is also a laureate of the New York International Artist Association Competition, the Remember Enescu in Bucharest, Telemann Competition in Poland, of the Prague Junior Note and the Grand prize winner of the Michigan ASTA Solo Competition.
She holds degrees in violin performance from Curtis Institute of Music (BM '12) and Yale School of Music (MM '14), and is the co-founder and artistic director of the Lake George Music Festival (a 501(c)(3) non-profit). Her primary mentors include Pavel Prantl, Charles Avsharian, Arnold Steinhardt and Ida and Ani Kavafian.
Barbora owns an extremely rare 1780 Josephus Antonius Laske violin and also plays 1750 Tommaso Balestrieri of Cremona violin, generously on loan from WOOD & Company Financial Services, a.s..
She is currently living in Prague in the Czech Republic with her husband Adam and their daughter Elesemond.