Jiří Bárta started his career at the turn of the ´90s and he soon ranked among top international cellists. He studied in Prague with Josef Chuchro and Mirek Škampa and in Cologne with Boris Pergamenshchikov. In 1991 he won the Europäische Förderpreis für Musik in Dresden, as well as the Rostropovich-Hammer Award in Los Angeles. He has worked with leading Czech and international orchestras, conductors and chamber ensembles, he has been regularly invited to perform at prestigious festivals and concert halls (Edinburgh, Berlin, Bratislava, Prague Spring, Salzburg – Schubert Festival 1997, Teatro Colon, Suntory Hall, Wigmore Hall). His recording Reflexion was named the best Czech CD recording of 2000 and received the Klassik Heute Empfehlung award of the Klassik Heute magazine. His recording of Sonatas by Rachmaninov, Schnittke and Pärt with pianist Marian Lapšanský received the 1995 Golden Harmony prize of the Harmonie magazine. Bárta´s recording of Bach´s Cello Suites and his live recordings of Shostakovich´s Concertos with the conductor Maxim Shostakovich and the Prague Symphony Orchestra was highly praised by the critics. His latest recording (2002) of Dvořák´s work has also got a very positive response. The DVD “Jiří Bárta plays Dvořák” featuring the Cello Concerto with the Prague Symphony under Gaetano Delogu was released in 1999. Bárta has recently been touring all over the world with the Czech Philharmonic, the Prague Symphony Orchestra as well as the Berlin Philharmonic (“The Millennium Concert”). In May 2001 he performed at the Wigmore Hall in London with the pianist Piers Lane. He was also invited to teach a master class at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Jiří Bárta plays a Gagliano cello dating from 1785.