Igor Františák studied at the conservatory in Ostrava in the clarinet class of doc. Valtra Vítka, with whom he continued at the Department of Art and Pedagogy of the University of Ostrava. In 2001, he received a government scholarship at the Norwegian Academy of Music, where he worked under the guidance of Prof. Hans Christian Braein.
As a soloist, he performed with the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Bohdan Warchal Slovak Chamber Orchestra, Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim, Czech Virtuosi, South Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic České Budějovice, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic, Talich Chamber Orchestra, INTER>Camerata, Pavel Haas Quartet, Bennewitz Quartet, Zemlinsky Quartet, Talich Quartet, Škamp Quartet, Wihan Quartet, Dvořák Trio and others. He is a founding member of the Stadler Clarinet Quartet, with whom he has been performing for more than 25 years.
In recent years, he has also been engaged in period interpretation on chalumeau, baroque clarinets and classical clarinets. As a player on these historical instruments, he cooperates with e.g. with the ensembles Collegium 1704, Collegium Marianum, Musica Florea, Ensemble Tourbillon, Ensemble Inégal, Oh! Orkiestra Historyczna (Poland) or Terra Nova Collective (Belgium). Since 2018, he has been a permanent member of the unique ensemble of historical basset horns Lotz Trio. In addition to his active concert activity, he has been an organizer and lecturer of international interpretation courses in Ostrava since 2002. He currently works as a professor of clarinet at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ostrava. Igor Františák is an official player of the French company Buffet Crampon, the American company D’Addario Woodwinds and the Austrian company Gleichweit mouthpiece. Since 2019, he has also been a member of the presidency of the International Clarinet Association for the Czech Republic (ICA – International Clarinet Association).
For more information go to: www.frantisak.fmgartists.cz
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