The Talich Quartet, which has been considered for many years to be one of the world´s finest string quartets, represents Czech musical art over the whole Europe, the Americas and Far East.

The quartet was founded in 1964 by Jan Talich sr. during his studies at the Prague Conservatoire, himself being the nephew of the renown chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Vaclav Talich, whom the quartet was named after. From the start the quartet (P.Messiereur,J.Kvapil,J.Talich, E.Rattay) quickly gained a significant position among the leading world quartets. On CD they have recorded, among others the complete works of W.A. Mozart and L.van Beethoven, and have received many international prizes, including the Diapasson d´Or, Grand Prix du Disque, Diapasson du siecle, Gold Disque from Supraphon, etc.

In the second half of the 1990´s a gradual change of all quartet members occurred, resulting in the present more youthful sitting of J.Talich, P.Macecek, V. Bukac and P.Prause who, continuing in the tradition of their predecessors, are involved in the wide spectrum of concerts and recording activities.

The Talich Quartet performs to great acclaim in Europe, Japan North and South America. They are regularly invited to prestigious chamber music festivals and venues such as Carnegie hall, Paris Champs-Ellysses, Salle Gaveau, Lyon, London's Wigmore hall, the Pablo Casals Festival in Prades, Europalia Festival, Printemps des Arts in Monte Carlo, Tibor Varga in Sion, Prague Spring Festival, International String Quartet festival in Ottawa and others.

The Talich Quartet was approached by the St. Spielberg foundation to work on recording works by classical composers for the film documentary about the holocaust called Hell on the Earth.

Despite being famous for their interpretation of Czech music, they have a very wide - ranging repertoire, the spectrum including all traditional classical composers, right through to Berg, Schoenberg, Bartok and Schostakovich from the 20th century.

Jan Talich - violin

Jan Talich Jr. is the descendant of the Talich's musical family. He is a member of the Talich Quartet since 1997. Studied both at the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of the performing Arts, Prague in the class of V. Snitil. After graduating he continued his studies in the United States and England with prof. S. Ashkenasi and Y. Neaman. He is the winner of the intzernatioal violin competition in Zagreb and has been honored throughout Europe as both a soloist and chamber musician, winning numerous distinctions and prizes. He is a founder and artistic director of the Talich chamber orchestra. Member of the Talich Quartet since 1997.

Peter Macecek - violin

Peter graduated from the Prague's Academy of performing Arts with prof. V. Snitil. He won several domestic violin competitions as well as the Henryk Wieniawski competition in Poland. Between 1988-1983 he was concertmaster with the Slovak Chamber Orchestra (B. Warchal) , 1994 - 1997 concertmaster and artistic leader / soloist of the Suk chamber Orchestra, with thePrague chamber orchestra without conductor and has done many recordings for Naxos, Vox Classics, Koch discovery which are higly appreciated by the critics He has been giving also solo and chamber concerts with his piano trio. Member of the Talich Quartet since 1998.

Vladimier Bukac - viola

Vladimier studied at both the Conservatory and the Academy of the performing Arts, Prague and at the Hochschule in Freiburg, Germany. Between 1990 to 1993 lived in Japan where he was engaged as both a soloist and chamber musician where he appeared at prestigious engagements in Japan, Australia, New Zealand. During this period he started to work actively as a viola player, which has proved to be a particularly fruitful aspect of his career. Since 1993 he is a member of the Talich Quartet and performs also as a viola soloist. Apart from others he has made a rare recording of a complete Suites for viola solo of M.Reger (Calliope). Since October 2002 he has been leading viola professor at the Music University Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden.

Peter Prause - violoncello

Peter attended Academy of the performing Arts, Prague. After graduating he left Prague for 2 years long stay at the Menuhin Academy Switzerland and the Guildhall School of Music in London (R.Wallfisch) where he was awarded top honors as one of the best students with the "Concert Recital Diploma"
Coming back to Prague he has served as first cello in the Prague Czech Radio Symphony Orchestr. As a soloist and chamber musician he has performed in many european countries. Member of the Talich Quartet since 1997.