Lucie Stepanova

Born in Prague, Lucie S?te?pa?nova? was as a child no stranger to music, with her mother a professional singer and her father a violinist. She started piano lessons when she was four years old and received her  rst cello lesson at the age of eleven. At the Prague Conservatory she studied cello with Jaroslav Kulhan and from 1994 continued her studies at the Utrecht Conservatory with Lenian Benjamins and Elias Arizcuren. In 2001 Lucie received her orchestra diploma with Christoph Henkel at the Freiburger Musikkhochschule in Germany. She concluded her studies in 2003 with her Artist Diploma (solo diploma) with Janos Starker at the Indiana University School of Music in the USA.  at same year she won  rst prize in the David Popper competition. During her studies Lucie participated in numerous cello and chamber music masterclasses.

At home and abroad, Lucie has played with diverse chamber music ensem- bles. She has made several recordings and live performances for Czech Radio Vltava, and has given solo recitals at the Young Prague Festival. Also, she has performed as a soloist with many orchestras – including the Prague Philhar- monic Orchestra. She also toured the USA as soloist with the Freiburger Aka- demisches Orchestra.

Two documentaries have been made about Lucie for Japanese and Czech tel- evision.  e Czech composer Jir?i? Gemrot composed a piece especially for her and her mother, which they recorded together for Czech radio. During her solo tour of Japan, she performed in the Casuals Hall for the Japanese crown princess.

Between April 2004 and April 2007 she played in the Cello Octet Conjunto Iberico in Amsterdam. She toured the world with this ensemble, performing in America, Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Germany, England, France, Italy, Poland and Croatia and worked with many soloists and composers including Bernarda Vink, Tereza Berganza, Arvo Pa?rt and Mauricio Kagel.

Since 2007 Lucie has performed in a duo with the pianist Ksenia Kouzmenko, playing in concert halls throughout the Netherlands – including the Concert- gebouw. Lucie is quite versatile in her musical repertoire. She initiated the project Bach in the Dark in December 2009 in which concerts she plays solo compositions by Bach and other composers in total darkness, giving the listen- er the opportunity to concentrate completely on the power of tone in an inti- mate atmosphere.  e premier of this project took place in the Parooltheater in Amsterdam and was so successful that repeat performances had to be scheduled. In recent years Lucie has emphasized performance of chamber mu- sic and became a founding member of the Voirin Quartett in 2015. Since then, the quartet has performed in  e Netherlands and Germany on a regular basis.

photo: from booklet Whispering Leaves