*1973
viola

Vladimír Kroupa finished The Prague Conservatory with J Ruis (Dvořák Quartet), then read viola with L Malý at The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He was a member of the Talich Chamber Orchestra and of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (for two years). From 1991, he played in the Apollon String Quartet, who won the first prize at the L van Beethoven international competition. In 1996, he participated in master classes with the Alban Berg Quartet, and in 2000 with H.W.Meyer (LaSalle Quartet).In 1999 he was one of the founding members of the Epoque String Quartet which performed in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Britain, Israel, Japan, Greece, the Netherlands etc, and which was successful at many competitions (e.g. the Paolo Borciani Competition) and festivals (e.g. Schleswig-Holstein Festival (Germany), Stuttgarter Philharmoniker Zyklus, Metamorphosen (Switzerland), České sny (the Czech Republic)). In 2000 he led master classes at The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. Since 2003, he has been a member of The Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra (SOČR) where he is leading viola player at present. He has been a member of the Czech Nonet since 2007.