Guildhall Wigmore Prize Recital
- 7.30pm
Tickets
About this event:
- Category:
- Classical Music | Competition / Prize | Featured
- Event type:
- Booking required | In-person
- Admission:
- £18 (£16 concs) Limited number of £5 tickets for under 35s available
- Location:
- Wigmore Hall
Event information
Each year, the prestigious Guildhall Wigmore Recital Prize is awarded to an exceptional musician from Guildhall School of Music & Drama, offering them the opportunity to perform at London’s world-famous Wigmore Hall.
Our 2025 prize winner, award-winning Czech violinist Kryštof Kohout, is joined by pianist Edward Leung for a captivating evening of late-19th and 20th-century violin repertoire.
The programme features the UK premieres of works by two Czech composers: Luboš Fišer’s hauntingly expressive 'Hands' Sonata, and Váša Příhoda’s lyrical Romance élégiaque. Bartók’s powerful Sonata for Solo Violin brings raw intensity and folk-inspired ingenuity, while Richard Strauss’ radiant Violin Sonata offers a lush, Romantic finale.
Known for his expressive artistry and technical brilliance, Kohout performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. He is also a founding member of the acclaimed Fibonacci Quartet, formed at Guildhall and celebrated across Europe.
Image (c) Olivia Da Costa Photography
Programme & Performers
Fišer Sonata for Violin and Piano,'Hands' (UK premiere)
Bartók Sonata for Solo Violin, Sz 117
Příhoda Romance élégiaque (UK premiere)
R. Strauss Violin Sonata in E-flat major, Op 18
Award-winning Czech violinist Kryštof Kohout is celebrated for his profound artistry, virtuosity and dynamic performances as a captivating soloist and insightful chamber musician.
Performing widely across Europe and the US, recent highlights include his Carnegie Hall debut recital, Barbican Centre, Musikverein Vienna, Konzerthaus Berlin, and Zeneakadémia Budapest, as well as festivals such as the Gstaad Menuhin Festival and Edinburgh International Festival. He is a laureate of the Bartók World Competition in Budapest, a recipient of the Musicians’ Company Silver Medal (the company’s oldest award) and has recently been selected as the sole instrumentalist to join the prestigious Classeek Ambassador Programme in Switzerland.
This season sees Kryštof perform concertos with orchestras such as the BBC Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, South Czech Philharmonic and Prague Chamber Soloists, along with recital debuts at Wigmore Hall and Bridgewater Hall. Upcoming chamber concerts take him to Berlin Philharmonie, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Philharmonie de Paris, and the Aldeburgh Festival.
Having made his Barbican Hall debut aged 21 playing the Berg Violin Concerto, Kryštof works as a soloist with orchestras internationally including the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra, Jenaer Philharmonie and Moravian Chamber Soloists and conductors such as Tomáš Netopil, János Kovács, Koji Kawamoto and Tomáš Brauner. His performances are regularly broadcast internationally including on BBC Radio 3, Czech Radio, Dutch Concert Radio and BR Klassik, and he has recently recorded works by George Walker, Kaija Saariaho, and Missy Mazzoli in collaboration with the Barbican Centre and BBC Radio 3 for their Total Immersion series.
A passionate chamber musician, Kryštof is a founding member of the internationally acclaimed Fibonacci Quartet, who formed at Guildhall School and are recent winners of both First and Audience Prizes at the Premio Paolo Borciani Competition in Italy. The quartet have been selected as YCAT artists, Grands Residents at ProQuartet Paris, and Britten Pears Young Artists. They perform widely across Europe and serve as Resident Quartet at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff, supported by the Frost Music Trust.
Kryštof studies at Guildhall School as a full scholarship student with professor David Takeno and has also received the prestigious International Artist Diploma from the Royal Northern College of Music. Aside from his formal studies, he has worked with artists such as Midori, Leonidas Kavakos, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Pierre Amoyal and Josef Špaček and attended international courses including IMS Prussia Cove and Kronberg Violin Masterclasses.
He performs on a Vincenzo Panormo violin, generously loaned to him by the Harrison Frank Family Foundation. He is also grateful for the generous support he has received through the Drake Calleja Trust, Countess of Munster Trust, Hattori Foundation, Velehrad London and the Comenium Musicum scholarship of the MenART Academy Fund of prof. B. Viskupová and A. Viková.
Kryštof is supported in his postgraduate studies by the Guildhall Scholarship.
Hailed for his “taut succinctness with emotional expansiveness and a striking capacity for invention” (BBC Music Magazine), American pianist Edward Leung is a sought-after soloist and chamber musician. Edward is a 2025-2027 Making Music Recommended Artist and a Bösendorfer-Amadeus Young Artist.
Edward won the Grand Prize in the 2025 Pianissima International Piano Competition, chaired by Cyprien Katsaris. In 2024, Edward won the Grand Prize and Public Prize in the inaugural Piano&Souls International Piano Competition. His debut album with violinist Usha Kapoor, Beach • John Corigliano: Violin Sonatas [Resonus Classics], was longlisted for Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, critically acclaimed by BBC Music Magazine, Gramophone, Foto Forum, and Classical Explorer, and was featured on ABC Classic’s Festival of Female Composers and SWR2 Treffpunkt Klassik. This current season features solo and chamber music recitals at Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Milton Court, and venues in The Hague, Edinburgh, and Antwerp.
A sought-after chamber musician, Edward has worked with members of the Artemis, Lindsay, and Elias String Quartets, as well as David Campbell, Willam Hagen, Viviane Hagner, Guy Johnston, Boris Kucharsky, Charles Neidich, Olivier Patey, Rafal Zambrzycki-Payne. He has worked in masterclasses with Ferenc Rados, Richard Goode, Stephen Kovacevich, Joseph Kalichstein, and Nikolai Demidenko. He has appeared in concerto performances with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Filarmonic Orchestra ‘Mihail Jora’ of Bacau, Orchestre symphonique du CRR de Cergy-Pontoise, Music of the Spheres Ensemble, and the Princeton University Orchestra.
He is the cofounder of Opus 21, an innovative chamber music collective dedicated to bringing an eclectic repertory of chamber music to Princeton University and beyond. Hailed by The Daily Princetonian for its 'dramatic, exciting performances' and 'a true need in the Princeton arts community', Opus 21 has formed chamber music collaborations with Harvard and Columbia Universities, and has performed at the Harvard Club of New York, Richardson Auditorium, and the 2015 APAP|NYC for the North American premiere of Sam Wu's 'dolphin song'.
After studies at Princeton University and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with Francine Kay and Pascal Nemirovski, Edward is on faculty at The Yehudi Menuhin School, where he is a Staff Pianist and teaches chamber music. He frequently gives masterclasses internationally and has previously taught at the Junior Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the Westminster School.
“This combination felt truly special – music full of contrast, mixing the well-known and the undiscovered.”
Read our latest Q&A in which Kryštof tells us more about his choices for this brilliant Wigmore Hall programme
