Jiří Stivín has been interpreting pre-Classical music on the recorder since 1975. After graduating from the cinematography department of the Prague Film Academy (FAMU), he devoted himself exclusively to music. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music as well as at the Prague Academy of Music, where he studied composition. His flute teachers were Milan Muncingler (Ars Revidiva) and Jiří Válek (Czech Philharmonic). Stivin performs music from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Baroque periods. He has recorded flute concertos (Telemann and Vivaldi on 4 CDs) and has mastered all kinds of flutes and recorders. He has also been intensely involved in jazz, composition, and in the improvisational New Music, using saxophone, clarinet, flute, recorder, and several kinds of folk pipes. As a soloist, he works with renowned musical ensembles and institutions (Virtuosi di Praga, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Slovak Chamber Orchestra, the Prague Madrigalists, Due Boemi, Suk Chamber Orchestra, Talich Quartet, etc.). He fronts his own Collegium Quodlibet and leads the jazz quartet Jiří Stivín & Co. He gives solo recitals with harpsichord, organ, or guitar, and sometimes performs with the sole aid of a tape recorder. For the last ten years, as part of the Prague Symphony Orchestra's concert subscription series, he has been giving a series of performances called 'All Manner of Flutes' and has written a large corpus of film, theatre and concert music. Jiří Stivín teaches at the Prague Conservatoire, at the annual jazz workshops in Frýdlant and is frequently involved in many other projects, including educational concerts for children.
