Jaroslav Tůma was born and raised in Prague. He graduated from the Prague Conservatory and Academy of Musical Arts, where he now teaches organ and organ improvisation. While still a student he won numerous prizes in various international competitions including those in Linz, Prague, and Leipzig. Alongside his work as an organist he plays on the harpsichord, clavichord, and fortepiano. He has an international reputation as an improviser, in which discipline he won first prize at the Haarlem and Nuremberg competitions. He has been a guest performer at the “Prague Spring Festival,” the “Musikfestspiele” in Dresden, and the “Flanders Festival,” and continues an intense concert activity in Europe, the United States, and Japan. As a champion of new music Tůma performs works by his contemporaries and his own. Between 1990 and 1993, he performed the opera omnia of J.S.Bach in Prague. He records for radio, television and numerous record companies. His discography includes more than twenty solo recordings, the most recent being Part I and II of J.S.Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavier,” performed on the harpsichord.