Artists | Fourhands

Pianist

Katerina Konopova

She studied at the Janáček Conservatoire in Ostrava and graduated from the Institute for Artistic Studies (today Faculty of Arts) of the University of Ostrava under the guidance of professor Marta Toaderová. After that she success fully completed her postgraduante studies at VŠMU (Academy of Performing Arts) in Bratislava, under the guidance of professor Stanislav Zamborský. Here she focused in detail on the work of Bohuslav Martinů.

She has won several awards in international competitions–she was awarded first prize for her solo performance in the Art-duo Competition (2018), second prize again for her solo performance, this time in the International Master Competition in Warsaw (2019) and first prize in Art-duo Competition in Barcelona. As a piano duo with Miroslav Míč, The Grand Prix award from the International Master Competition in Warsaw and first prize in the International Competition in Barcelona, both held in 2019, can be regarded as their biggest joint succes so far.

Besides, in autumn 2019, they gave as a piano duo a series of concerts in Taiwan, where they were invited on the occasion of celebrations relating to the anniversary of the birth of Czechoslovakia, organized by the Ministry of foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. In 2005, she was presented second prize in The First Henri Selmer Bass Clarinet Competition in Rotterdam for a duo performance along with the bass clarinetist Jiří Porubiak. In addition, she has received free awards in competitions with wind instruments and with the Pražská kantiléna choir for outstanding piano accompaniment.

She has attended several international master piano courses. As an orchestra player, she has been cooperating with the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava. Several times, she even performed with them as a soloist. She was teaching at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ostrava and at the Janáček Conservatoire in Ostrava. At present, she is not only a concert soloist, she also dedicates herself to interpretations of chamber music and is a much sought-after accompanist. She enjoys cooperating with the Pražská Kantiléna choir. She has also been cooperating several times as an accompanist in International clarinet xcourses in Ostrava. Apart from all that, she success fully pursues her teaching aktivity at Conservatory Jaroslav Ježek in Prague.

Pianist

Irina Cherkashyna-Andrushko

Irina Cherkashyna - Andruško is a pianist and chamber musician based in Prague. She began studying piano at the age of six at the Secondary Professional Music School in Kharkov in the class of N. Avramenko. During her studies, she actively participated in piano competitions in Russia and Ukraine, where she won awards, and was also a scholarship holder of the Vladimir Spivakov Foundation. She regularly performed at concerts and festivals in Ukraine and Russia, where she performed at a number of youth interpretation festivals.

In 2012–2017, she studied at the Prague Conservatory in the class of Prof. Milan Langer, graduating with a performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30. During her studies and subsequent artistic career, she has been engaged in both solo and chamber music.

She currently works as an accompanist at the Prague Conservatory, regularly performs solo and in chamber projects, and is a member of the piano duo FourHands. She also collaborates with instrumentalists and singers. In Domažlice, she worked with Ludmila Peterková, Han Kim and Pablo Barragán in international clarinet courses and regularly participates in concert projects with singers as part of the Smetana Jabkenice festival.

She has completed a number of interpretation courses and masterclasses under the guidance of prominent artists and is currently further developing her artistic work under the guidance of pianist and teacher Vovka Ashkenazy.