Lenka Torgersen concertmaster

Lenka Torgersen studied violin at the Pilsen Conservatory and subsequently at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under Václav Snítil. After graduating in 1998 she focused intensively on Baroque violin and honed her skills from 1999 to 2003 at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis under the tutelage of Chiara Banchini.

From 1999 to 2012 she was concertmaster of Collegium 1704. Currently concertmaster of Collegium Marianum, she also works regularly with other Czech and international ensembles including La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, Ensemble 415, Freitagsakademie Bern, conSequenza, Ensemble Inégal, Les Traversées Baroques, Orchester der J. S. Bach-Stiftung St. Gallen and Ensemble Tourbillon. As a chamber musician and soloist she performs at major music festivals (such as the Prague Spring, Festival d’Ambronay, Festival de Sablé, Festival La Chaise-Dieu, MA Festival Brugge, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik, Festival del Camino de Santiago and Festival Santander), and also collaborates with various leading figures in early music including Chiara Banchini, Gustav Leonhardt, René Jacobs, Andrea Marcon, Jordi Savall, Andrew Parrott and Attilio Cremonesi.

She has recorded for renowned international labels such as Harmonia Mundi, Accent, Zig-Zag Territoires and Pan Classics. In 2010 as a soloist with Collegium 1704 she recorded the instrumental works of Antonín Reichenauer, for which she received the Diapason d’Or award. In 2013 she recorded on the Supraphon label a solo CD entitled “Il Violino Boemo”, a modern-day premiere reviving the sonatas of the 18th century Czech violin virtuosi František Benda, Josef Antonín Gurecký and František Jiránek. This recording also garnered enthusiastic reviews from both Czech and foreign critics.