Petra Poláčková, Guitar Virtuoso in Concert

DIRECTIONS: St Francis Episcopal Church

Poláčková’s playing was so technically secure and musically insightful, it was unimaginable that anything she played could possibly be difficult.” -- Cleveland Classical 

Known for extraordinary musicianship and virtuosity, Petra Poláčková has appeared throughout Europe and the U.S., performing at guitar festivals in Bonn, Hamburg, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Madrid, Geneva, Lucerne, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Cleveland and Portland, among many others. Since 2010 Poláčková has been a co-organizer of the Guitar Festival Mikulov in the Czech Republic. She has released recordings of 20th century sonatas as well as works by Sylvius Leopold Weiss.

After beginning her guitar studies at age six at the Elementary Art School in Rožnov pod Radhoštem in the Czech Republic under Bohuslav Faltus and Miroslava Pavelkova, Poláčková studied with Zdenek Dvorak at the Elementary Art School Lounskych in Prague. She attended the School of Music in Pardubice in the Czech Republic under Petr Saidl and obtained her bachelor's and master's degrees with Paolo Pegoraro at Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz in Austria. Poláčková has performed in master classes taught by Leo Brouwer, Nigel North, Thomas Müller-Pering and Judicaël Perroy, among many others. In 2011 she received the Merit Diploma at the Chigiana Academy of Siena in the class of Oscar Ghiglia. 

Poláčková performs on a Concert Master Double Top guitar built by Petr Matoušek and a 1923 historical guitar by Domingo Esteso, courtesy of Gabriele Lodi. She also plays an eight-string romantic guitar (a reproduction of an 1840 guitar by Nicolaus Georg Ries) and a nine-string romantic guitar, both built by Jan Tuláček.