The young Czech pianist Ivo Kahánek is quickly gaining a reputation as one of the most exciting pianists of his generation. He is renowned for his lyrical poeticism and outstanding virtuosity employed in pieces ranging from Baroque to contemporary music. He won the Prague Spring International Music Competition in 2004 and gained awards at other leading international piano competitions (Maria Canals Piano Competition in Barcelona, Vendome Prize in Vienna, Stiftung Tomassoni Wettbewerb in Cologne, © Lada Krupková Křesadlová, 2010 Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition in Marienbad, Concertino Praga, etc.). After his successful debuts at Beethovenfest Bonn and Prague Spring Festival he was invited by the BBC to perform the Fourth Piano Concerto („Incantations“) by Bohuslav Martinů at the BBC Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Jiří Bělohlávek. The concert took place at the Royal Albert Hall in London in August 2007 and was broadcast by the BBC Radio 3 and the BBC Television. This critically acclaimed Proms debut is now being offered by Deutsche Grammophon as a digital download. He also performs regularly with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and has made highly appreciated debuts with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Glasgow, WDR Orchestra Cologne, Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Prague Philharmonia, Brno Philharmonic and many others. He has performed with well-known conductors, e.g. Pinchas Steinberg, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jiří Bělohlávek, Zdeněk Mácal and Jiří Kout. So far Ivo Kahánek has released six CDs between 2007-2009 under the Supraphon Music label (which he has entered a contract into) with music by Janáček, Martinů, Klein, Kabeláč, Francaix, Ibert i.a.. His solo CD (Janáček-Martinů-Kabeláč, including three newly discovered Fugues for Piano by Leoš Janáček) has received the top rate in prestigious musical journals (Le Monde de la Musique, Classics Today, Fanfare). Besides that he frequently collaborates with Czech Radio and Czech Television. His last solo record devoted to Fryderyk Chopin (Sonata No. 2 in b minor, 4 Scherzi) was released in September 2010 under Supraphon. A graduate of both the Janáček Conservatoire in Ostrava under Marta Toaderová and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under Ivan Klánský, Ivo Kahánek also studied for one semester on the Advanced Instrumental Studies course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London under Ronan O ́Hora and participated in master classes with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Christian Zacharias, Alicia de Larocha, Imogen Cooper, Peter Frankl and many others.