A harpsichordist with a weakness for the fortepiano, a zealous advocate of authentic performance of baroque music and at the same time a renowned interpreter of music from our own time, a participant in many master classes all over Europe and holder of a number of prestigious performance awards, Monika Knoblohová is one of the most striking discoveries of her generation.
After graduating from the Prague Conservatory in the field of piano, Monika studied harpsichord at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under Giedré Lukšaité-Mrázková and Zuzana Růžičková and from 1997 to 2000 musicology at Charles University in Prague. She completed a year’s study residence at the Hermann–Zilcher Konservatorium in Würzburg and from 1996 to 1998 studied under John Toll at the Dresdner Akademie für alte Musik. In 2000 she enrolled in the class of Ketil Haugsand at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne and received her diploma in 2002. In 2001 she was a finalist in the OberösterreichischerSolistenwettbewerb (an international soloist competition), as a result of which she was invited to participate in prestigious courses at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival led by Ton Koopman. The following year she received a three month scholarship to the Royal Conservatory in The Hague where she studied in the class of Jacques Ogg. In 2005 Monika received her Master’s Diploma in the class of Christine Schornsheim at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich.
At the 1999 Prague Spring International Competition Monika won Third Prize together with the title of Laureate and the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation Prize for best performance of Martinů‘s Concerto for Harpsichord and Small Orchestra, which she also recorded on CD. In 2002 she received the Czech Davidoff Prix, a prize awarded annually to the most striking young artist with prospects for a successful international career. In 2003 she won Third Prize and the title of Laureate in the sixteenth Grosser Förderpreiswettbewerb in Munich in the field of historically informed performance of early music (together with flautist Jana Semerádová) and in the same year she was also awarded the Bohuslav Martinů Society Prize at the Youth Forum in Karlovy Vary.
Monika has recorded a wide spectrum of CDs. Her first CD for Supraphon The Complete Works for Harpsichord by Bohuslav Martinu (2005) received 10 JOKERS – Best CD of the Month (Crescendo, Belgium), 4 Diapason (France) and excellent reviews in Le Monde de la Musique, France and Harmonie, Czech Republic. Together with cellist Petr Nouzovský she recorded the Gamba Sonatas by J. S. Bach (Cube Bohemia, 2006) and Inventions by J. S. Bach and Czech contemporary composer Jan Novák (Cube Bohemia, 2007), both of which were critically acclaimed. In 2009 she recorded a double CD of the Complete Works for Harpsichord by Jiří Teml, which was released by Radioservis and in 2012 she recorded Leopold Koželuh’s Sonatas for Piano, accompanied by Flute and Violoncello for Supraphon on period instruments – a world premiere. In 2014, she recorded Goethe in Songs for the Radioservis label.
Monika regularly performs as a soloist and chamber music player both at home and abroad (Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Poland, Spain). She frequently collaborates with soloists Clara Nováková, Petr Nouzovský, Kamila Mazalová and Jana Semerádová (duo seraphim) and with ensembles Czech Ensemble Baroque, Musica Aeterna, Collegium 1704 and Berg Orchestra. Her varied repertoire ranges from the authentic interpretation of early music through classical music to contemporary music. She has premiered numerous contemporary compositions and in many cases has also recorded them for Czech Radio.
Since 2008 Monika has presented her own concert series, the Café Crème Music Salon, consisting of original, inventive performances combining early and modern music, the spoken word, dance and theatre.
Monika has led the harpsichord department at the Early Music Summer Academy in Holešov since 2006, has been teaching at the Early Music Academy at Masaryk University in Brno since 2007 and at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague since 2015. From 2011 to 2013 she taught harpsichord at the Faculty of Arts of Ostrava University
