Studied with Mirko Škampa, Viktor Moučka and Josef Chuchro and then for a short time with French cellists Paul Tortelier and André Navarra.

During his student years he participated in more than thirty competitions. Among the most notable successes were the first prize at the Prague Spring International Music Competition in 1983, and the victory at the Bavarian ARD Radio Competition in Munich (1986). Another great success was the laureate title at the International Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1982. Competition successes were naturally followed by solo performances in Europe, Japan and North and South America.

She regularly records for radio in the Czech Republic, Germany, Holland, Japan, France, Italy… He has recorded more than 40 solo CDs for Panton, Bonton, Supraphon, Radioservis Praha, Nuova Era (Italy), and had a long-term representation with the French company Praga digitals in Paris, where he recorded 30 solo CDs.

In addition to his solo work, he has been an intensive chamber musician since his youth: first he played with his brothers in a piano trio, then at the conservatory he founded the Havlák Quartet, later the Martinů Quartet, and then he was a member of the Pražák Quartet for 36 years. With this ensemble he performed regularly on the most important stages all over the world and won many awards for his CD recordings. Since 2017 he has been a member of the Wihan Quartet.

n 2011 he started teaching at the HAMU in Prague and between 2013-2019 he also worked as a professor at the Prague Conservatory. In 2014 he was appointed chairman of the permanent commission of the Prague Spring International Music Competition and since 2020 he has been a member of the Artistic Council of the festival.

Michal Kaňka plays a unique modern instrument made by the French master violin maker Christian Bayon in 2006 and uses a French bow made by Nicole Descloux in 2000.