© Petra Hajska

Eva Krestová

viola section leader, Czech Philharmonic

Eva Krestová studied the violin at conservatories in Brno and Prague, after which she continued at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with Professor Jindřich Pazdera. Ever since her conservatory years, she has been a keen chamber musician. She has developed her skills with many members of renowned ensembles, including Trio Fontenay (Niklas Schmidt), Fine Arts Quartet (Professor Jerry Horner), Miró Quartet (Joshua Gindele), and Quarneri Trio Prague (Ivan Klánský).

She has won numerous awards at international chamber music competitions with the Josef Suk Piano Quartet and Puella Trio, among others the ACM Premio Trio di Trieste, Italy (1^st prize), Salieri-Zinetti Chamber Music Competition, Italy (1^st prize), Maria Yudina Competition, Russia (2^nd prize), Charles Hennen Concours, the Netherlands (3^rd prize), and Rovere d’Oro, Italy (2^nd prize). A violist of the Josef Suk Piano Quartet, she regularly performs at top festivals and on prestigious concert stages at home as well as abroad. The ensemble won the Czech Chamber Music Society Award for their achievements in 2013. She used to play the violin in the Pavel Haas Quartet and travelled the world with them, appearing at Carnegie Hall in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, Herkulessaal in Munich and Louvre in Paris. They also won the famous Gramophone Award together.

She occasionally performs as a soloist, such as with the ensemble Virtuosi Italiani, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Virtuosi, and the Moravian Chamber Orchestra (where she used to play as the concertmaster during her studies).

With her chamber ensembles, she has recorded a number of CDs for the recording labels Supraphon, Arco Diva, Limen music, and Azzuro music. She has appeared in recordings for the BBC, the Japanese broadcaster NHK, and the Czech TV. In 2013-2015, she was first violist of the Prague Chamber Orchestra, and in the 2020/2021 season, she played in the viola section of the National Theatre Orchestra in Prague. She is the section leader of the Czech Philharmonic violists. Her greatest success and joy are her two beautiful children.