| Czech Republic
František Novotný studied violin at the Janáček Academy of Music in Brno, and with the violin virtuosos and educators Zakhar Bron and Viktor Tretyakov. He has since accumulated victories, laureateships and special mentions from more than twenty competitions (e.g., Kocian Violin Competition, Concertino Praga, Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Prague Spring, Premio Paganini in Genoa, Tokyo International Competition, among others). He is the holder of the Italian Radio and Television Corporation RAI Award, and was awarded with the Henryk Wieniawski Medal. He has been consistently building up his exceptionally wide repertoire (including, for instance, over seventy works with orchestra), which he performs in collaboration with leading symphony orchestras and has been on the stage of major venues across the Europe, as well as in Japan and the US. Apart from the standard repertoire, he has been keen on introducing audiences with less well known or completely unknown works by globally renowned composers. Notably, he made the first recordings of Romantic concertos by Arensky and Taneyev in this country. His credit recordings include both Czech and international labels, among many others including violin concertos of Dvořák and Brahms (with Jiří Bělohlávek), and a unique double album featuring the complete violin output of Ernest Bloch. He has worked with various radio and television companies. The final part of Korngold's Concerto for Violin rendered by František Novotný was chosen by the creators of the mysterious series Stranger Things as the soundtrack for its season 4. In addition to CD format, his recordings can be also found on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer platforms.
As an educator, he teaches at the Music Faculty of Janáček Academy, and at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, as well is regularly lecturing at masterclass series in the Czech Republic, France, Poland, Hungary, Japan, and the US. In 2009, he was granted full professorship. Elsewhere, he has been involved as a member of the jury at numerous international violin competitions (Ernst Szymanowski, Carl Flesch, G. F. Telemann, Jenö Hubay, Balys Dvarionas, Prague Spring, etc.), and as the chair of the international violin competition, recently established by the Bratislava Academy. First time it was held in 2022 under the aegis of the president of Slovakia. In 2023, he received the prestigious Kobushi-Shien Award in Japan, in recognition of his eminent concert achievements and his long-standing artistic contribution to the cultural life of Hyogo Prefecture, and in the city of Kobe in particular.
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