Professor of cello and chamber music at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, Petr Prause was born in Ostrava, Czech Republic and started the cello at the age of six with Miroslav Dolezil and Ivan Merka.

He went on to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague with Miroslav Petras and members of the Smetana Quartet. Mr. Prause also studied at the International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland, and with Raphael Wallfisch at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

Mr. Prause taught cello at the Prague Conservatory of Music and was Principal Cellist of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. From 1997 until 2019, Petr Prause was a member of the Talich Quartet.