Duo Ardašev
Renata Lichnovská and Igor Ardašev – Piano four hands

Bedřich Smetana (1824–1884) Má vlast (My Homeland)
A cycle of symphonic poems (1872–79) in the composer’s own arrangement for piano four hands (1879–80)
Vyšehrad, Vltava, Šárka, From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields, Blaník

Presented as part of the Czech Dreams project by Leeds City Council International Relations and twin city Brno UNESCO Creative City of Music, Leeds International Concert Season, and Leeds International Piano Competition.

The Czech Dreams project is the biggest international project for the Year of Czech Music 2024 and an important contribution to this year’s 200th anniversary of the birth of the famous Czech composer Bedřich Smetana.

Please note this concert is 1 hour, without an interval.

Duo Ardašev

Renata Ardaševová – Lichnovská studied at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno (JAMU) under the guidance of Professor Inessa Janíčková, and further developed her extraordinary talent through international masterclasses. She has won several competitions, including Virtuosi per musica di pianoforte in Ústí nad Labem, the Bedřich Smetana Competition in Hradec Králové, the Chopin International Competition in Mariánské Lázně, and in 1992, she received The Gordon Trust Prize at the Scottish International Competition in Glasgow. She also achieved success in the composition competition Generace, where she won in 1987. She began her rich concert career at the end of her studies. Renata collaborates with prominent soloists both in the Czech Republic and abroad, including Michaela Fukačová, Bohuslav Matoušek, Pavel Wallinger, and Carmine Lauri. Together with Igor Ardašev, she forms the Duo Ardašev, which has performed on numerous European concert stages. They have recorded works for Supraphon, including Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances, Legends, the From the Bohemian Forest cycle, and the piano version of Smetana’s Má vlast (My Homeland).

Igor Ardašev has long been one of the leading Czech pianists. After studying at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno under Professor Inessa Janíčková, he participated in masterclasses in Austria and the USA led by legendary pianists Paul Badura-Skoda and Rudolf Serkin. In addition to his successes in children’s competitions, he became a laureate of the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Prague Spring Competition, the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels (where he also won the Belgian Radio and Television Award), and the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris. In 1990, he won the first prize at the Maria Callas Competition in Athens. Igor gives solo recitals and performs piano duets with Renata Lichnovská. He collaborates with chamber ensembles and soloists (such as Jiří Bárta, František Novotný, Pavel Šporcl, and Ivan Ženatý). He has performed at renowned music festivals, including the Prague Spring, the Rudolf Firkušný Festival, Janáček’s May, Concentus Moraviae, Schleswig-Holstein, Jodoigne in Belgium, and festivals in Hannover and Naples. In 2019, he was awarded the Brno City Prize. As of 2023, his discography includes twenty titles.