Jiri
Slavik

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Jiří Slavík studied jazz composition and classical double bass at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome. After his studies he moved to Paris, where he worked for seven years as a freelance musician in a wide range of musical genres, from classical music to jazz and ethnic music. Since October 2014, he has been living back in the Czech Republic, teaching in the jazz departments of the HAMU in Prague and the JAMU in Brno. Since March 2025 he has become professor of jazz double bass at Anton Bruckner University in Linz.

During his career to date he has played his own music on five continents and released seven albums on the Supraphon, Animal Music, Bivak Records and F-IRE labels. His compositions have been played on TV Arte, CT, and on the airwaves of radio stations such as France Culture, BBC Radio 3 and Český Rozhlas. For his solo double bass concerts he uses an exceptional five-string instrument that has been passed onto him by his musical and life mentor, the legendary American double bassist Barre Phillips.

In 2008, at the age of 22, he won the first prize in the Jazz competition at the European bass convention (Bass 2008). In 2019, he was chosen to be one of the five headliners (the remaining four were Ron Carter, John Patitucci, John Clayton and Lynn Seaton) of the jazz program at the International Society of Bassists convention, which took place in Bloomington, Indiana, USA.

As a composer he has written a variety of works including large scale symphonic commissions, ballets, oratorios, chamber, choral and instrumental works. His elaboration of Czech traditional Christmas music for the album “Path of Light” (released on Supraphon in 2022) was also filmed by the Czech national TV the same year with Slavík himself conducting the orchestra and choir. His affinity for Czech traditional music is also celebrated on the album “Mateřština” (meaning “Mothertongue”), which received the Czech “Anděl” award for best World Music album, 2016.