Krystof Kohout

Biography

Kryštof Kohout (*2000) is a young award-winning violinist from Pilsen, Czech Republic. Having performed at festivals such as the International Chamber Music Festival Plovdiv, Thaxted Festival, JAM on the Marsh, Young Euro Classic, Smetana Days and Znojmo Music Festival, Kryštof has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe and in the USA. He has performed numerous times as a soloist with the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra, Moravian Chamber Soloists and Junior Guildhall String Ensemble. He is also one of the “Talent Unlimited” artists in the UK and is grateful to have been awarded the Hattori Foundation Junior Award in 2021. Recently invited to join the award-winning string ensemble LGT Young Soloists, he has already performed with them for wide audiences including the Princely Family of Liechtenstein at venues such as Konzerthaus Berlin and Musikverein Vienna.

Kryštof is the winner and laureate of a number of international competitions, such as the Kocian Violin Competition, the Art-Duo International Music Festival in Vienna and the Muse International Music Competition among others. In 2017, Kryštof won the Whitgift International Music Competition, receiving the coveted Headmaster’s Scholarship to study at Whitgift School and a scholarship to the Junior Guildhall School of Music & Drama. In 2019, Kryštof was accepted directly into the second year of undergraduate course at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama where he now studies as a full scholarship student with professor David Takeno (Eugène Ysaÿe International Chair of Violin).

Kryštof has benefitted from masterclasses with many distinguished musicians such as Anne-Sophie Mutter, Midori, Pierre Amoyal, Josef Špaček, Ulf Wallin, Kolja Blacher, Gerhard Schulz, Gyorgy Pauk and Adrian Brendel as well as members of the Gould Piano Trio and the Endellion, Consone, Chilingirian, Bozzini and Castalian string quartets. He has attended international courses including the Kronberg Violin Masterclasses, London Master Classes, Liberec International Violin Academy and the Franco-Czech Academy of Music in Telč. In 2017, Kryštof was awarded a scholarship to attend the Meadowmount School of Music in New York where he was a student of Ivan Ženatý and Kevork Mardirossian.

An avid chamber musician, Kryštof is a founding member of the Fibonacci String Quartet, formed in London in 2019 and mentored by Krysia Osostowicz. The quartet is also supported by the Talent Unlimited foundation and has been invited to join the Le Dimore del Quartetto network in Milan as well as the Netherlands String Quartet Academy. The quartet has received further masterclasses and coaching sessions from members of the Gould Piano Trio as well as the the Endellion, Consone, Chilingirian, Bozzini and Castalian string quartets. In March 2020 the Fibonacci Quartet won both the 1st prize and the audience prize at the international Beethoven Competition as well as the 1st prize at the Saint James Chamber Music competition in London. 

Kryštof is a two time laureate of the “Plzeňský Orfeus” prize awarded annually to a young musician in recognition of international achievements and representation of the City of Pilsen in the field of classical music. He is grateful for generous support from the Hattori Foundation, Huddersfield 1980 Scholarship Fund, Velehrad London, The Foundation of 700 Years of the City of Pilsen, Charity of Mary Barnes and Talent Unlimited.