Xenie Dohnalová

She was born to a family of musicians in Saint Petersburg, has discovered her great passion – singing at the age of three and started playing the violin aged five. She loved singing and soon fell for jazz. Her first violin teacher was Emma Polonskaya. She studied at the Rimsky–Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg with Anatoly Resnikovski, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with Yfrah Neaman and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with Ivan Štraus. She has attended courses with E. Friedman, S. Lupu, P. Zuckerman and studied chamber music at the Sandor Vegh Academy with Maurice Bourg and Sergio Azzollini. She won the 1^st prize in a competition in interpreting J. S. Bach’s music, the 2^nd prize in a London competition and the 3^rd prize at Beethoven’s Hradec.

She was the concertmaster of the St. Petersburg Conservatory Orchestra. As a member of the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo (Japan), she got the opportunity to study with the concertmasters from the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic. She then settled in Prague with her husband, a Czech clarinettist, and joined the Prague Chamber Orchestra led by Ondřej Kukal.

She is also a chamber musician. She played many concerts both in the Czech Republic and abroad with Trio Concertante and participated in recording CDs with the music of Beethoven and Brahms. She currently performs in the Brahms Trio Prague with French horn player Ondřej Vrabec and pianist Daniel Wiesner.

“I have loved singing and jazz since I was a child. It remains one my greatest joys. I will never forget the improvisation session with Bobby McFerrin in the Rudolfinum and the beautiful concerts with the Czech Philharmonic Jazz Band. At home I like to listen to recordings of jazz stars such as Bill Evans, Chick Corea and Ella Fitzgerald.”