Petra is on a month-long concert tour of Australia, during which, in addition to her performances, she also gives maser classes and teaches students and those interested in playing the guitar (last week, for example, at the prestigious Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, or at the International Classical Guitar Festival in Perth).

Petra Poláčková began her guitar studies at the age of six at the Elementary Art School in Roznov pod Radhostem where she worked with Mr. Bohuslav Faltus and Mrs. Miroslava Pavelkova. She also studied with Zdenek Dvorak at the Elementary Art School Lounskych in Prague. In 2004 she graduated from an 8-year high school in Roznov pod Radhostem. In 2010 she completed her studies at the School of Music in Pardubice (Czech Republic) with Prof. Petr Saidl. She obtained her Bachelor and Master Degrees with Prof. Paolo Pegoraro at Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz, Austria.

In addition to her degree studies, Petra Poláčková has participated in an impressive number of master classes throughout Europe presented by internationally acclaimed classical guitarists and musicians: Giampaolo Bandini, Leo Brouwer, Zoran Dukic, Massimo Felici, Hubert Käppel, Rolf Lislevand, Pablo Márquez, Lorenzo Micheli, Nigel North, Thomas Offermann, Stefano Palamidessi, Elena Papandreou, Paolo Pegoraro, Thomas Müller-Pering, Judicael Perroy, Pavel Steidl, Alexander Swete, Jens Wagner, Brigitte Zaczek, Piotr Zaleski and others. In 2011 she received the Merit Diploma at the Chigiana Academy of Siena in Maestro Oscar Ghiglia´s Class.

As a result of her extraordinary musicianship, consummate virtuosity, and numerous first place prizes, she has been invited to perform and lead masterclasses at many prestigious European and also non-European guitar festivals, such as Bonn, Darmstadt, Hamburg, Vienna, Rust, Linz, Paris, Toulouse, Prague, Mikulov, Kutna Hora, Tychy, Wroclaw, Poznan, Bratislava, Pordenone, Milano, Budapest, Balaton, Bar, Braga, Madrid, Genéve, Luzern, Aarhus, Turku, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Cleveland (US Debut in May 2014), Portland (US), Paracho, Culiacan (both Mexico), Frutillar (Chile) and others.

Since 2010 she has been a co-organizer of the Guitar Festival Mikulov (Czech Republic). In June 2020, she released her CD debut "WEISS" with music by the German lutenist Sylvius Leopold Weiss, recorded on a 9-string romantic guitar.

Currently she is teaching in Austria at the Franz Schubert Music School Fürstenfeld, Johann-Joseph-Fux Konservatorium Graz and most recently in 2022 she was appointed Honorary Professor at the Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Denmark.

Petra Poláčková performs on a historical guitar by Domingo Esteso (1923; a courtesy of M°Gabriele Lodi), and a 9-string romantic guitar made by Jan Tuláček.

More photos from the concert are available on the Facebook profile of our embassy: https://www.facebook.com/CZEmbassyCanberra/