Renata Rakova, clarinet

Czech clarinetist Renata Rakova specializes in contemporary music and is also a passionate improviser. Based in Austria, she is a member of the LariX Ensemble and Ensemble für Neue Musik and has performed with the Grazer Oper and Klangforum Wien. Her festival appearances include Bard Music Festival, Santa Fiora in Musica, Impuls Festival, Klangspuren Festival, Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik Darmstadt, Festival de Música de Colón, and New York String Orchestra Seminar.

As a winner of the Bard College Conservatory of Music concerto competi- tion, Rakova premiered Harold Farberman’s clarinet concerto Triple Play with the American Symphony Orchestra under Leon Botstein. She has also appeared as soloist with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Prague Chamber Orchestra. She is proud to have worked with renowned composers including Gerd Kühr, Georg Friedrich Haas, Beat Furrer, Hans Abrahamsen, and Joan Tower. She has studied with clarinetists David Krakauer, Laura Flax, Olivier Vivares, Sabine Meyer, and Francois Benda. She graduated from the Bard College Conservatory, receiving degrees in clarinet performance and German studies. She received her master’s degree in performance practice in contemporary music at the University of Performing Arts in Graz, where she studied with Klangforum Wien.