Barbora Kristofova Sejakova

Barbora Kristofova Sejakova (*1978) started to play the piano at the age of 7 in the class of Jaroslava Capkova. By 14 she had become a student of the Prague Conservatory, where she studied with Prof. Emil Leichner. From 1997 she studied with the same Professor at the Prague Academy of Music and Performing Arts and graduated in June 2002. When she was studying at the Academy, she participated in a short-term attachment at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin in the piano class of Prof. Laszlo Simon and at the University of Music "Mozarteum" in Salzburg in the piano class of Prof. Hans Leygraf. Since 2005, she has been a PhD student at Charles University in Prague.
Barbora has co-operated with many important pianists and piano teachers (Nelly Akopian, Avner Arad, Joseph Banowetz, Lazar Berman, Peter Efler, Sorin Enachescu, Walter Fleischmann, Douglas Humpherys, Eugen Indjic, Avo Kouyoumdjian, Elena Lapitzkaja, Teresa Manasterska, Anne Queffélec, Peter Roggenkamp, Avi Schönfeld, Adam Wodnicki etc.), she participated in many masterclasses in the Czech Republic as well as abroad, she got a scholarship several times: for example in 1993 for the summerclasses Center for Creative Youth (U.S.A.) (she studied there with Prof. Donald Currier from Yale University), in 1999 and 2001 for Masterclasses at the Festival de Bourgogne, where she gave two successful recitals.
Barbora has won a number of prizes in piano competitions - 1st prize in the Czech-Japanese Competition in 1996, 2nd prize in the International Piano Competition of the Festival de Bourgogne in 1999, she participated in the Final round of the four-round International Piano Competition in Pescara in 1998 and won the 1st prize in the Competition of Bohuslav Martinu in 1999. In 2001 she got the 3rd prize in the International Piano Competition of I. J. Paderewski in Bydgoszcz (Poland) and with her Trio Bergerettes she won the 1st prize in the Competition of Bohuslav Martinu. In July 2002 she got the 1st prize and the Public prize in the International Piano Competition of the Festival Vysocina 2002. She got the prize for the best stage performance of compositions by Bohuslav Martinu in different competitions five times.
Barbora gives concerts in the Czech Republic as well as abroad (U.S.A., Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, Poland). As a soloist she has performed at international music festivals: 1999 and 2001 Festival de Bourgogne, 2001 European Piano Forum in Berlin, 2004 Concentus Moraviae, 2005 The Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland and 2006 The Beethoven Days in Karlovy Vary. She also acts as a chamber music player (piano trio Bergerettes). She has recorded for the Czech Radio and the Czech TV, and has performed in live broadcasts several times. In 2003, the Czech Music Fund Foundation included Barbora Kristofova Sejakova on the Premium List of Young Czech Performers.