Luboš Fišer (1935-1999) was one of the most influential and versatile Czech composers of the 20th century, with a prolific and impressive body of work for the stage, screen and concert hall. Fišer’s eight piano sonatas (of which the second is lost), were composed for the instrument described by the composer as ‘his greatest love of all’. Retaining a special place in Fišer’s oeuvre, they became an intimate diary of his constantly evolving compositional style, from his student days and the neo-classical Sonata No.1, through the experimental sonatas of the 1960s and 1970s, to the simplicity of melodic line and the immediate emotional impact of the final sonata, No.8.

Czech-Canadian pianist Zuzana Šimurdová began her international career as a laureate of the UNESCO-Aschberg Bursarie Awards in Paris followed by First prize at the International Music Competition Anglo Czechoslovak Trust in London and the Janáček First Prize at the International Piano Masterclasses Competition ‘Prague-Vienna Budapest’. Among recent highlights is her Carnegie Hall debut as a winner of the Chopin Award at the IBLA Grand Prize International Competition. Šimurdová has given solo and chamber concerts across Europe, the US, Canada, China and South Korea. She has also been a featured artist on radio broadcasts in the Czech Republic and Canada, and made TV appearances on France 2, ČT2 and OMNI TV Toronto.