Violist Vilém Kijonka, who joined the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra on 1 June 2013, hails from the Czech Republic but has lived in the Netherlands since 2004. He studied at the Prague conservatory and Music academy, and from 2001 at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Nobuko Imai and Michael Gieler, principal of the section he now joins. He also studied with Wolfram Christ at the Freiburg Hochschule für Musik. Kijonka is a former member of the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Suk Chamber Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic, where he was appointed principal violist in 2008. Nonetheless, he says he decided to sign up for an audition to join the viola section of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra ‘because I’ve always dreamed of being a member of the RCO. Chamber music has been always a very important part of his music life. He played on national and international chamber music festivals and he was member of the Kubelik quartet for 6 years. As soloist he performed with several orchestras including Suk chamber orchestra and Het Brabants Orkest. Performed at the Festival in 2014.