Václav Luks is an early music specialist. He began his musical education at the Plzeň Conservatory before studying the horn and harpsichord at the Academy of the Performing Arts in Prague. He continued his studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.
In 2005 he founded the Prague-based Baroque orchestra Collegium 1704 and the vocal ensemble Collegium Vocale 1704. He makes guest appearances with both ensembles at the renowned festivals of Salzburg, Prague, Lucerne and Warsaw, and performs at major European concert halls such as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Bozar in Brussels, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and London’s Wigmore Hall. He has performed with renowned soloists including Karina Gauvin, Vivica Genaux, Philippe Jaroussky, Magdalena Kožená, Bejun Mehta, Sara Mingardo, Adam Plachetka and Andreas Scholl.
Václav Luks also collaborates with other distinguished ensembles including the Netherlands Bach Society, the Concerto Köln, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Camerata Salzburg, the Akademie für Alte Musik in Berlin, La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the SWR Symphony Orchestra and the Czech Philharmonic, and with the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston. Until 2025 he is artist in residence with Kammerakademie Potsdam. At a benefit concert for the restoration of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, he conducted the Orchestre National de France.
He has played a significant part in rediscovering the music of Bohemian composers Jan Dismas Zelenka and Josef Mysliveček. Under his direction, Collegium 1704 recorded the music for Petr Václav’s documentary Zpověď zapomenutého (Confession of the Vanished, 2015) and for his feature film Il Boemo (2022) about the life of Mysliveček, for which Václav Luks also served as chief music advisor.
His recordings with Collegium 1704 have received numerous awards, among them the Diapason d’Or and the German Record Critics’ Award.
In June 2022 Václav Luks was honoured in France with L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
