Karel Stadtherr

Is a founding member of the New Vlach Quartet, to which he belongs since 1982 (apart from a few years of interruption). After studying violin at the conservatory in Plzeň, he played with the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra. Soon, however, he moved to become second concert master in the Suk Chamber Orchestra, which at the time was conducted by his revered teacher and mentor, the violinist Josef Vlach (the founder of the original Vlach Quartet). Karel Stadtherr also performed as a soloist with that ensemble. In 1989 he was appointed concert master of the Prague Chamber Orchestra, which usually performs without a conductor, and under his artistic direction the ensemble traveled the wide world of music, worked together with the most renowned soloists, and made much admired recordings. But in 1994 a yearning for chamber music brought him back to his friends and colleagues in what had since been renamed the Vlach Quartet Prague. Karel Stadtherr still fulfils his commitments as concert master to various chamber ensembles and is regularly invited to lead the rehearsals ambitious scores.