Ivan Klánský and Klára Klánská

Ivan Klánský studied piano at the Prague Conservatory with Valentina Kameníková and at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with František Rauch. He is a laureate of numerous international competitions (Bolzano 1967, Naples 1968, Leipzig 1968, Barcelona 1970, Warsaw 1970, Fort Worth 1973, and others) and has performed more than four thousand concerts across four continents throughout his career. He performs regularly in Germany, Switzerland, England, France, Spain, South America, the USA, Canada, and Japan. From 1980 to 1990, he was a soloist with the Czech Philharmonic.

For the Danish company Kontrapunkt, he recorded the complete piano works of Bedřich Smetana; his discography also includes piano works by Romantic composers.

He has taught at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague for over thirty years, serving as head of the keyboard instruments department since 1997; since 1991 he has also been a professor at the Lucerne University of Teacher Education (Hochschule Luzern). He has conducted master classes in Dublin, Schaffhausen, London, and other cities. His students include Helena Suchárová-Weiser, Prague Spring International Competition laureates Martin Kasík and Ivo Kahánek, and many other leading Czech pianists.