Born in the Czech Republic capital of Prague, the musician began studying the double bass at the conservatory in his home town, where his teacher was Vaclav Fuka; in 1998 he concluded his studies at the Berlin Academy of the Arts with Reiner Zepperitz. Stepan Kratochvil was a Member of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, and from 2000 a grantee from the Herbert von Karajan Foundation of the Berlin Philharmonic. In 2003 Stepan Kratochvil became a member of the double bass section in the Munich Philharmonic, since 2006 a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra.
