Biography
Jan-Filip Ťupa was born into a Czech musician family on the 20th May 1980 in Recklinghausen, Germany. He studied at first with Claus Reichardt at the Robert Schumann-Hochschule in Düsseldorf, where he finished his education with the “Diplom in Musik” in February 2004. Subsequently he continued his studies with the English cellist Raphael Wallfisch at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London and later at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. In September 2005 he was awarded the title “Master of Music” and in June 2007 the “Konzertexamen with distinction”. Shortly afterwards he finished his education with an additional “Master of Music” in the Contemporary music programme at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt.
He has widened his interpretation horizon in master classes with world-class cello virtuosos and teachers such as Janos Starker (USA), Bernard Greenhouse (USA), Gary Hoffman (Canada/France), Christophe Coin (France) and Lluis Claret (Spain).
During his studies Jan-Filip has been supported by the Kunststiftung NRW and was awarded prizes at the Schmolz + Bickenbach competition in Düsseldorf and at the international Concours Charles Hennen in Heerlen (Netherlands). He is a founding member of the chamber orchestra Schumann Camerata, with which he performed in concerts and on recordings as principal cellist and soloist. His recitals in countries throughout Europe, in South America and the Middle East were widely appreciated, so were his appearances in the master classes of the Kronberg Academy International Cello Festival and the Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestivals.
His debut tour of the Czech Republic with works by Schubert, Britten, Fauré and Martinů, which he undertook in summer 2004 together with the Korean pianist Seon-Joo Kim, was received enthusiastically by the audience and the press. The musical journal Hudební Rozhledy (10/2004) highlighted his artistic maturity and masterly command of the instrument combined with a big portion of youthful temperament and inexhaustible energy. The Czech Broadcasting Corporation dedicated a programme about the musical journey with pieces from the CD released especially for the occasion.
In February 2005 he had the honour to play the Fifth Suite by J.S. Bach in an event held by the Violoncello Society of London in the Wigmore Hall celebrating the ninetieth birthday of the cello legend Bernard Greenhouse.
Jan-Filip’s special interest lies in the cooperation with composers of his generation. He has not only premièred numerous new pieces, but he has also been the incentive for some of them and has influenced their development. A set of virtuoso pieces for cello solo by the Chilean composer José Ignacio Fernández Bollo, for example, was published in October 2005 as score and recording in a collection of poems by the Chilean writers’ forum FDE. (Five concerts were given in Santiago de Chile adjoining that event and Radio Beethoven and the Czech Broadcasting Corporation dedicated features to the interpretation of those pieces.) Another piece written for him is “The AnaBChronicles” for cello solo by Prof. Manfred Stahnke (Hamburg).
An important part of Jan-Filip’s commitment is the promotion of contemporary music, be it in seminars for university students, in dialogue concerts or in workshops for kids, for example in cooperation with the British educational projects-specialists Fraser Trainer and Paul Griffiths.
His growing passion for contemporary music finally led him to become a member of the International Ensemble Modern Academy during the 2006/07 season. Since then, he has been performing regularly with the world’s finest groups for contemporary music such as Ensemble Modern and musikFabrik at festivals and venues like Biennale di Venezia, musica Strasbourg, Lucerne Festival, Salzburger Festspiele, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Festspielhaus Hellerau, Kwai Tsing Theatre Hong Kong, Radialsystem Berlin, as well as in productions for Hessischer Rundfunk and WDR.
The Czech Broadcasting Corporation featured Jan-Filip in portraits and broadcasted his performances of Henri Dutilleux’s concerto „Tout un monde lointain…“ and Bernd Alois Zimmermann's “Concerto en forme de pas de trois" - the latter one together with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Bernhard Kontarsky.
Current projects include the performance of Hans Werner Henze’s concerto “Ode to the west wind” in the programme of Ruhr.2010 – European Capital of Culture and the world première recording of Jacqueline Fontyn’s concerto “Colinda” on SACD for the German label Cybele.
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