About us

Founded in 2016, Trio Incendio has quickly established itself as one of the most distinctive young European ensembles which already performed in some of the finest European venues like the Wigmore Hall, Philharmonie Berlin or Rudolfinum in Prague.

Trio Incendio is recognized for its sense for delicacy and style in works of classicism, warmth of sound in interpretation of romantic pieces as well as their captivating approach to contemporary music.

Trio Incendio

Trio Incendio was founded in 2016 in Prague by pianist Karolína Františová, violinist Filip Zaykov and cellist Vilém Petras.

The trio is a laureate of several competitions like the Joseph Haydn Competition in Vienna, Joseph Joachim Competition in Weimar, Gianni Bergamo Classic Music Award in Lugano, Coop Music Awards in Cremona, Concorso Musicale “Marcello Pontillo” in Firenze, Kiejstut Bacewicz Competition in Lodz, Concorso “Massimiliano Antonelli” in Latina or Bohuslav Martinů Competition in Prague, where they also gained the Special Prize for the best interpretation of the work by Martinů.

Recently, the trio has been awarded the Hans Gál Prize by the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz and Villa Musica Foundation.

Trio Incendio took part in this year’s Verbier Academy, where they had the pleasure to work with the members of Quatuor Ebene, Nicolas Altstaedt, Amihai Grosz, Mihaela Martin and Gabor Takács-Nagy.

As a member ensemble of the European Chamber Music Academy, Trio Incendio had great opportunities of working regularly with distinguished artists and professors such as Hatto Beyerle, Johannes Meissl, Julius Berger, Alexander Lonquich, Karla Haltenwanger, Avedis Koyoumdjian, Marianna Shirinyan, Boris Berman, Itamar Golan, Jan Talich and Petr Prause, Vida Vujić, Patrick Jüdt, Minna Pensola, Dirk Mommertz or Hyung-ki Joo. In 2019, Trio Incendio was also invited to join the Le Dimore Del Quartetto organisation.

Trio Incendio took part in a masterclass with Rainer Schmidt and had two sessions of public masterclasses with Alfred Brendel on Piano Trios by Schubert in Rudolfinum in Prague. One of the masterclasses on the Trio No. 1 has been released on a DVD by the Supraphon label.

The trio participates regularly in the International Summer Academy in Reichenau organised by the University of Music in Vienna. At the academy, they were awarded the Wiener Klassik Prize, Bohuslav Martinů Prize and AHUV Prize for the best interpretation of Czech contemporary music. The trio also got the Chamber Music Prize for the best ensemble of the academy and the Audience Award.

Trio Incendio performs both in the Czech Republic and abroad. The young ensemble has already given concerts in some of the most important European venues such as Philharmonie Berlin, Wigmore Hall or Rudolfinum in Prague and has been invited to festivals like Ticino Musica, Davos Festival, Ohrid Summer Festival or the chamber music season of the Prague Spring Festival.

  • Filip Zaykov started playing the violin at the age of 5 under the guidance of Magdalena Micková. His further professors were Jiří Fišer in Prague and Natalia Prischepenko in Dresden. Currently, Filip is a student in the class of Friedemann Eichhorn at the Hochschule für Musik ”Franz Liszt” in Weimar.

    Filip is a laureate of numerous national and international competitions both in Czech Republic (Josef Muzika International Competition, Kocian Violin Competition, National Competition of the Czech Conservatories) and abroad (Concours Grumiaux in Belgium, Kloster Schöntal International Competition in Germany, Premio Clivis in Italy).

    As a soloist, Filip Zaykov had his debut at the age of 10 with the PKF – Prague Philharmonia in the Concerto for 2 violins in a minor by Vivaldi with the legendary violinist Josef Suk. Later, he appeared again several times with the PKF – Prague Philharmonia, with the Prague Symphony Orchestra, North Bohemian Philharmonic Teplice or the Symphony Orchestra of the Prague Conservatory.

    He took part in many masterclasses and academies where he worked with Christian Tetzlaff, Pierre Amoyal, Rodney Friend, Endre Granat, György Pauk and others.

    Filip was a member of the Orchestra Academy of the Czech Philharmonic and Chamber Music Academy in Prague (Akademie komorní hudby) and currently he is a member of the Villa Musica Foundation and Malko Academy for Young Conductors.

  • Karolína Františová studied at the Prague Conservatory with Martin Kasík, with whom she continues her studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. Currently, Karolína is studying a postgraduate programme at the Academy. She also studied at the Accademia pianistica Internazionale in Imola with Vovka Ashkenazy and at the Universität der Künste Berlin with Gottlieb Wallisch. Karolína took part in masterclasses with Vladimir Ashkenazy, Ch. Elton, N. Fisher, I. Fountain, L. McCawley, A. Koyoumdjian, B. Berman, I. Klánský, M. Gambarian and others.

    Karolína Františová is a laureate of many national and international competitions like the Haydn International Piano Competition in Vienna (1st prize), Jenö Takács Piano Competition (1st prize), Smetana International Competition in Pilsen (1st prize), Scriabin International Competition in Paris (1st prize), Piano Talents in Milano (2nd prize) and others.

    She regularly appears as a soloist with the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra. With this ensemble, Karolína has played the concertos by Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky and Grieg. She has also performed with the PKF – Prague Philharmonia and the orchestra of the University of Music in Vienna. Karolína occasionally collaborates with the Czech Radio and the Czech Television.

  • Vilém Petras studied at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with Michal Kaňka. He also studied with Peter Bruns at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater “Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy” in Leipzig and with Vida Vujić at the mdw – Universität der Künste in Vienna. His previous teachers were Mirko and Martin Škampa and Sergey Kalyanov.

    Vilém has won several prizes at competitions like Talents for Europe, Antonio Janigro Cello Competition, the National Competition of Czech Conservatoires or the Jan Vychytil Cello Competition. As a soloist, Vilém has appeared with several orchestras, for example the PKF – Prague Philharmonia, Prague Symphony Orchestra or the Pilsen Philharmonic in concertos by Dvořák, Shostakovich, Haydn or Lalo. Vilém also premiered a Cello Concerto by the composer Daniel Chudovský.

    Vilém took part in masterclass with for example Alisa Weilerstein, Jens-Peter Maintz, Danjulo Ishizaka, Emil Rovner, Silvia Sondeckiene or Marek Jerie.

    Since 2020, Vilém is the principal cellist of the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra Olomouc. Before that, he was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra and of the orchestra academies of the Czech Philharmonic and PKF – Prague Philharmonia.

  • Despite the age of the members of the ensemble, their playing is very mature and at the same time full of youthful passion.

    Alena Sojková, KlasikaPlus.cz

  • Trio Incendio proved its qualities in stormy romantic or even symphonic parts which have been contrasting with warm and tender melodical passages.

    Marta Tužilová, Harmonie.cz

  • Trio Incendio captured the attention of the audience with the youthful freshness and spontaneity of their interpretation, but also with its danceful moments and poetic and singful approach.

    Věroslav Němec, Harmonie.cz

  • Here is a group to take note of, and count on for the future.

    Alfred Brendel