Ladislav Bilan Jr.
& HAMU Percussion Ensemble

Ladislav Bilan, Jr. (*1994) was born into a musical family. “I began playing percussion instruments at the age of three, initially by imitating my father, who is principal timpanist with the Moravian Philharmonic in Olomouc,” Bilan informs us. He later graduated from the conservatoire in Olomouc, where he was taught by his father.

At the age of thirteen, Mr. Bilan won the audition for a position in the Moravian Philharmonic in Olomouc in 2009, becoming its youngest ever member. He has been studying at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague since 2014. That same year he was chosen by Jiří Bělohlávek to perform the Concerto No. 1 for Marimba and Orchestra by Ney Rosauro at an open-air concert on Hradčany Square as part of the project “Play with the Czech Philharmonic”. Amid tough competition he was one of six chosen from among 120 talented youngsters. He has played in the Czech Philharmonic Orchestral Academy. “Thanks to that, I had the chance to appear with the orchestra at New York’s Carnegie Hall and the Musikverein in Vienna, for example, and I also got to play a special concert with Sir Simon Rattle and Magdalena Kožená, who sang Luciano Berio’s Folk Songs”, says Mr. Bilan, summarising his experiences. In 2020 he earned a master’s degree at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and was admitted to the same school’s doctoral programme. He is currently completing his studies with the Belgian marimba player Ludwig Albert. He made an appearance at a Prague Spring alternative programme in 2020 at a concert streamed live from the Liechtenstein Palace.