Here they are! The fantastic members of the 2026 Prague Spring Competition flute jury
Philippe Bernold (France) – chair of the jury
His path to an international career was opened by winning the Jean-Pierre Rampal International Flute Competition in Paris in 1987. He has appeared in London’s Royal Festival Hall, Salle Pleyel, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Kölner Philharmonie, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, and the Seoul Arts Center. He has collaborated with artists such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Maurice André, Yehudi Menuhin, John Eliot Gardiner, Lorin Maazel, Semyon Bychkov, and Kent Nagano. In 1989 he received the prestigious French Grand Prix du Disque de l’Académie Charles Cros for his first CD, featuring Sonata No. 2 for flute, viola and harp by Claude Debussy. Since then, he has recorded more than twenty albums for labels including harmonia mundi (now BMG), EMI, Koch, and Lyrinx. Alongside the flute, he also studied composition and conducting with René Matter, a background he fully put to use in 1995 when he founded his own ensemble, Les Virtuoses de l’Opéra de Lyon. Philippe Bernold is Professor of Flute and Chamber Music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris.
Emily Beynon (UK)
Emily Beynon has been principal flute of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam for thirty years. As a soloist, in addition to appearing with her home orchestra, she has performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the BBC orchestras, the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. She has recorded fifteen studio albums, made numerous radio recordings, and has also appeared in several television documentaries. A passionate advocate of contemporary music, she has championed composers such as John Woolrich, Sally Beamish, Jonathan Dove, Guillaume Connesson, Roxanna Panufnik, and Maarten Ornstein. She regularly gives masterclasses around the world. Her series of educational videos, published on her YouTube channel during the pandemic, met with outstanding success. From 2009 to 2021, she served as Artistic Director of the Netherlands Flute Academy (NEFLAC).
Christina Fassbender (Germany)
From 1996 to 1999, she was a member of the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, and from 1999 to 2012 she served as principal flute of the Komische Oper Berlin. She has also collaborated with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Berlin, and the WDR Symphony Orchestra. Her solo career has taken her to concert stages in Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Japan, Korea, Norway, Chile, Costa Rica, the United States, and Canada. She is a regular guest at flute festivals including the Italian FALAUT Festival and the Finnish Crusell Music Festival. Alongside her performing career, she has long been devoted to teaching. In 2012 she accepted a professorship at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster; in March 2015 she moved to the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg; and since October 2017 she has been Professor of Flute at the Universität der Künste Berlin.
Václav Kunt (Czech Republic)
After ten years as a member of the Orchestra of the National Theatre Brno, Václav Kunt’s artistic career came to focus primarily on solo and chamber performance. For twenty-three years he was principal flute of the Prague Chamber Orchestra, which performs without a conductor. As a soloist, he has appeared in many countries worldwide, including Germany, Austria, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Italy, the United States, Canada, and Japan. His artistry is documented on dozens of radio and studio recordings (harmonia mundi, Praga Digitals, Orfeo, or Supraphon). Chamber music occupies a special place in his work, whether in partnership with piano, harpsichord, harp, or in other instrumental combinations. He is also deeply committed to teaching. He is Professor of Flute at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno and also teaches at the Grammar and Music School of the Capital of Prague. He regularly leads international performance courses both in the Czech Republic and abroad.
Jan Ostrý (Czech Republic)
Jan Ostrý has built his career as a solo performer and pedagogue. He has appeared at major European music festivals including Styriarte, Pierre Boulez Days in Lyon, the Haydn Festival Eisenstadt, and the International Flute Festival Maastricht, and made his debut at the famous Concertgebouw Amsterdam. In the 1999–2000 season he served as principal flute of the Orchestre National de Lyon, and from 2001 to 2002 held the same position at the Norwegian National Opera. He has contributed to numerous recordings for labels and broadcasters including Studio Matouš, Supraphon, Naxos, Nimbus Records, Czech Radio, ORF, France Musique, and AVROTROS Klassiek. He currently teaches at the Prague Conservatory, the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ostrava, and the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien. He has led masterclasses at the Nice Summer International Academy, the Universität fur Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon. For more than twenty years, he has been a permanent member of the teaching staff of the European Flute Academy in Fiss, Austria.
Davide Formisano (Italy)
Born in Milan, Davide Formisano is the first Italian laureate of the prestigious ARD International Music Competition in Munich. Between 1995 and 2012 he successively held positions with the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in the Netherlands, and for five years served as principal flute of the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala. In 2012 he decided to leave the orchestral world in order to devote himself fully to solo and chamber music. His concert activity has taken him throughout Europe as well as to Asia, North and South America, in collaboration with artistic partners such as Philipp Moll, Fabio Biondi, Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Muti, James Galway, Philippe Entremont, and Thomas Sanderling. As a soloist, he has appeared with leading orchestras including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, the Tonhalle Ensemble in Zurich, and the Filarmonica della Scala, with whom he took part in a world tour in 2004. Since 2007, he has been Professor of Flute at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart.
