ANTONIA STRAKA – cello
Antonia Straka was born into a Viennese family of musicians in 2002 and is now considered one of the most promising cellists of the young generation.
In the 2023/24 concert season, she will be presented as a featured artist of Jeunesse Austria. In addition to numerous concerts, she played the season opening in the sold-out Golden Hall of the Wiener Musikverein with Antonin Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, which was documented in an ORF Ö1 live recording.
Antonia Straka is a multiple 1st prize winner at national and international competitions including Laureate of Musica Juventutis 2020 and winner of the International ESTA Concerto Competition 2022.
In fall 2021, she made her debut in the Schubertsaal of the Wiener Konzerthaus and as a soloist with the Slovak Radio Orchestra in the Golden Hall of the Wiener Musikverein. She has appeared several times as a soloist in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Next Generation Orchestra of the Wiener Musikgymnasium.
In the 2022/23 concert season, she made her debut as a soloist with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and performed Tchaikovsky’s “Rococo Variations” and his “Pezzo Capriccioso” at the Wiener Konzerthaus.
In February 2024, she was a guest soloist and lecturer at the IberAcademy in Medellin, Colombia, where she performed Joseph Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D major with the local orchestra, played recitals and led a cello ensemble.
Antonia Straka’s lively chamber music activities include collaborations with renowned artists such as Eszter Haffner, Christian Altenburger, Réka Szilvay, Veit Hertenstein, Peijun Xu, László Fenyö, Patrick Demenga, Christoph Zimper, Joji Hattori, Anton Gerzenberg and Thomas Riebl.
After studying with Maria Grün at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and with László Fenyö at the HfM Karlsruhe, she is currently continuing her studies with Thomas Grossenbacher at the Zurich University of the Arts.
Masterclasses with Peter Bruns, Wen-Sinn Yang, Gustav Rivinius, Kian Soltani and Frans Helmerson are a great enrichment for her artistic development.
Since 2022, Antonia has also been a scholarship holder of the International Music Academy Liechtenstein and is supported by scholarships for young outstanding talents from the Lyra Foundation and the Geert and Lore Blanken Schlemper Foundation.
Antonia plays a cello made by the Italian violin maker Giuseppe Sgarbi, Rome 1885.