AGATHE JERIE

Born in Bern and studied under Eva Zurbrügg, an assistant of Prof.M. Rostal. Diploma in 1974 Academy of Music in Bern. Afterwards she went to Prague and studied under Prof. Ivan Straus at the Academy of Music in Prague (Czech). Graduated from Masterclasses under Riccardo Odnoposoff, Wolfgang Schneiderhahn. Thereafter studied in Basel under Hansheinz Schneeberger. She won several prizes from the Kiefer Hablitzel Foundation, played as soloist and chamber musician in Switzerland and abroad. As mother of four teaching began to be more important for her and so she graduated from the comprehensive Suzuki Training in Germany and became also a Teacher Trainer which allows her to instruct new teachers in this method. Now she is teaching in Switzerland, and gave courses in Germany, Czechia, Hungary, Italy, and Cuba. She also headed the International Orchestra Academy in the summertime in Czechia from 1996-2005. Currently she manages the International Summer school in Interlaken, a music camp for several instruments (violin, guitar, cello) for Suzuki children. In addition there is a course for teachers. With her Suzuki Group she performs in Switzerland but also abroad.

ILONA NAUMOVÁ

Ilona Naumova started playing violin at the age of 7 in Russia. She received her education at the Tchaikovsky Music Institute and the Ural State Conservatory in Ekaterinburg and continued her advanced studies with Eva Zurbrügg in Bern and Jean Piguet in Neuchatel. She had a permanent position as tutti first violin at the Ekaterinburg State Opera House. After completing one-year internship with the Bern Symphony Orchestra she worked as regular substitute with multiple orchestras. Since 2000, she has been actively involved in violin education in Switzerland, including many years at the Music School Conservatory Bern, also as an assistant for strings in Youth Symphony Orchestra, and as a Suzuki teacher in Bern and at the Zürcher Oberland Music School in Wetzikon. She completed her Suzuki teacher training with Agathe Jerie and regularly participates in workshops and continuing education. She loves to perform with her both almost adult children, who were her first Suzuki students. Alongside her teaching, Ilona remains artistically active through orchestral, solo and chamber music performances.

"The Suzuki Method is a vocation for me. Working closely with children and their families, accompanying their holistic development, sharing a musical journey with its challenges and joys, and exchanging ideas with dedicated colleagues are what shape and enrich my life as a Suzuki teacher."

JANA HRABAŇOVÁ

Jana Hrabaňová graduated at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. During her studies, she became a co-founder of the Škampa Quartet, in which she worked as a second player for almost twenty years. Then she concentrated on teaching and when in 2012 she attended a concert of Swiss Suzuki violinists from Agathe Jerie's class, she was so enchanted by the performance that she decided to spread this method in the Czech Republic. Between 2013 and 2017, she became certified to teach all five levels of the Suzuki Violin Method in Switzerland and the same year she co-founded the Czech Suzuki Association with Martina Pudelová, a platform for teachers, parents and students who share similar ideas about teaching children to play a musical instrument. Jana became a Suzuki Method teacher trainer in 2025.

S. Suzuki: "Where love is deep, much will be accomplished.”

Martina Pudelová

Martina Pudelová studied at the Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava and at Palacký University in Olomouc. She first encountered the Suzuki method live during a year long study stay in the USA. She was surprised to observe violinists who - although violin was often not their main subject of study - had excellent technique. Moreover, they were incredibly quick to learn new pieces and play them by heart. Most of them started violin lessons at a young age, according to Suzuki. Martina Pudelová then attended several Suzuki violin and viola lessons and was impressed with the method. After arriving in the Czech Republic she met Jana Hrabaňová and came to Prague to see her lessons. Soon after, she went to Switzerland to join Agathe Jerie on a violin course and in 2017 she and Jana Hrabaňová founded the Czech Suzuki Association. Martina Pudelová is also a Suzuki Early Childhood Education teacher for children from 0-3 years old.

"Apart from the litres of coffee I drink, working with children gives me an incredible energy boost."

ANNA DOLEČKOVÁ

Anna studied at conservatories across the Czech Republic. She has lived for many years in Guadeloupe, France and Haiti. Since 2016, she has been collaborating with the Gymnasium and Music School of Prague on several projects. In 2017, she first encountered the Suzuki method at a workshop at the Dobeška Studio, Prague and was very interested in it. Between 2019 and 2021, she completed the first and second levels of the Suzuki Violin Method with Agathe Jerie, with the support and sharing of Jana Hrabaňová's experience. Since 2019 she has been teaching this method at the Dobeška Studio, Prague.

Petra Ščevková

Petra Ščevková plays baroque violin and she really admires the free education of children. Petra does the Suzuki method mainly because of philosophy to cultivate the musical abilities and thus become a better and happier person.

Sára Zemenová

Sára Zemanová is a student of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under MgA. Pavel Kudelásek. She is also an active player in the Barocco Sempre Giovane ensemble and, in addition to taking care of her two years old daughter, she teaches several young violinists. She came to the Suzuki method of education almost by accident, and she is all the more enthusiastic about the Level 2 course, which she completed in 2021.

LENKA MACHAČKOVÁ

Lenka studied teaching at PdF MU in Brno and Baroque violin at the Faculty of Music there. She got acquainted with the Suzuki method in Norway during a visit to an art school in Bergen and was completely captivated by it. Since then she was looking for a place to learn this way of teaching until she found the great Jana Hrabaňová and Suzuki Studio in Prague. She has completed Level 2. Her youngest pupil is 3.5 years old and the oldest is 82 years old. She works as a violin and cello teacher and at the same time as deputy director at the Art School in Bystřice nad Pernštejnem. Lenka has been leading the Kyjovský String Orchestra for 20 years, plays in the Cappella Allegra String Quartet and sings in the Alter Ego Chamber Choir. As a volunteer she also leads music therapy courses in social institutions. Besides music, her greatest love is her two-year-old grandson Martínek, who loves playing the violin, so - we'll see.

"Music is prayer, prayer is healing, healing is giving, giving is living, living is making music." (Hopi)

SIMONA DEŠČIČKOVÁ

Simona has always been very close to music, which is why her first steps led her to the Michalovce School of Arts, and later to the Zemplín folklore ensemble. From childhood she took part in many violin and singing competitions, and therefore decided to continue studying music at the conservatories in Bratislava and Košice. During her conservatory studies, she was involved in many artistic ensembles within student projects, such as the Košice State Philharmonic, the EHMK Košice International Orchestra, the Slovak Philharmonic, the Veni Academy (a contemporary music orchestra), and the Five Rivers International Orchestra (a project of the European Capital of Culture 2015, Plzeň). She also actively participated in violin courses: Humilitas (Suyeon Kang), Pavel Šporcl’s violin courses (Pavel Šporcl, Leoš Čepický), and many others. Between 2016 and 2018, she briefly worked at the private elementary school of arts SZUŠ Talent-Um (as a teacher of violin, chamber music, and music theory), played in the Zemplín folklore ensemble, and continued her studies with Prof. Petr Maceček at the University of Ostrava. In 2024, she completed her bachelor’s studies at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, in the field of Musicology. She currently focuses on the Suzuki teaching method, which supports a child’s natural development. She performs regularly with various ensembles. In addition to her active performing, she also contributes to scholarly research work at the Bedřich Smetana Museum.

Zuzana Adorján

Zuzana Adorján has been playing the cello since the age of six. She graduated from the Jan Neruda Gymnasium with a musical focus in the class of professors Škamp and then from the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in the class of professor M. Petráš. During a study stay in Dresden at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber she studied in the class of Prof. M. Bräutigam. For several years she was the leader of the cello group in the Czech Student Orchestra (among others at the Young Euro Classic Festival in Berlin) and then became a member of the PKF - Prague Philharmonia Orchestral Academy for the 2011/12 season. She participated in master classes with Jiří Bárta (cello) and M. Lapšanský (chamber music). Since 2007, she has been teaching cello at the A. Voborský Music School in Prague 4 and since 2022 also at the Popelka Music School in Prague 5. From 2008 to 2018 she was a member of the band Martin Písařík & Akustik, with whom she released a CD of her own songs.

Dineke Štěrbová Pel

Dineke has been playing the cello since the age of six. She received her musical education during her childhood in the Netherlands, where she followed private cello lessons with Marianne Vrijland (cello Suzuki teacher trainer) and piano lessons with Grietje Meter (Suzuki teacher) and Huub de Leeuw (piano Suzuki teacher trainer). Being raised in a musical family with the value of making music together, she has been actively playing the cello in different orchestras and chamber ensembles and enjoys singing in choirs. She is also a frequent concert visitor and dedicated music listener. Dineke is professionally educated as a linguist, sworn translator and interpreter and has always been fascinated by the similarities between language acquisition and musical development. Raising her bilingual Czech-Dutch daughters convinced her even more of the benefits of a mother tongue approach to music. Her relationship to the Suzuki method was enriched, while accompanying her two daughters on their way to musical education, the elder playing the piano and the younger playing the violin (with Martina Pudelová). After an inspiring meeting with Ruben Rivera (Suzuki cello teacher trainer) during the International Suzuki Summer School in Interlaken, Switzerland, Dineke successfully applied for the level 1 Suzuki cello teacher training in Brussels, which she will finish in July 2024. She has started her own practice as a cello teacher in Olomouc.

MARKÉTA STIVÍNOVÁ

Markéta was born in 1971 in Prague. She is the daughter of flutist, multi-instrumentalist and composer Jiří Stivín, and grew up in an extremely musical environment. Since her studies at the conservatory she has been actively teaching the flute. The Suzuki method appealed to her and she is looking for families enthusiastic about this method. Suzuki has been teaching transverse flute since 2018 and has completed Level 2. She has participated in Suzuki Flute Workshops in Bamberg and Aachen. She works with a professor who is the renowned, Dutch Suzuki flutist Karen Lavie. Marketa's whole family has a positive relationship with this method, her husband is a Suzuki method violin teacher and her three children are also going through this method, taught by the amazing teacher Jana Hrabaňová.

Aneta Majerová

Czech-Slovak pianist Aneta Majerová (197-) is a chamber musician and teacher. An interesting feature is the revelatory dramaturgy of their concerts. She began her musical career at the age of four at the ZUŠ Giraltovka in eastern Slovakia. Aneta graduated from the Conservatory in Žilina. She completed her Bachelor and Master studies with Prof. M. Lapšanský at the Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica. She has participated in internships at the Prague Academy of Music, the Gnessa Academy in Moscow and the Jerusalem Academy of Music. She improved her performance skills at International Performance Courses under the guidance of Lazar Berman, Eugen Indjic or Robert Roux. She has worked closely with a number of Czech teachers - Martin Bally, Marta Toaderová and Božena Steinerová. In recent years she has been engaged in concert activity - she has performed in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, the USA, Russia, Holland, Israel and the Seychelles. Together with Eva Sendreiová, she is the winner of the 1st prize of the State Competition of Slovak Conservatories in Chamber Music and the International Schubert Piano Duet Competition in Jeseník. She is active especially in the field of chamber music in collaboration with such personalities as Petr Nouzovský, Markéta Cukrová, Roman Patočka, Stamic Quartet, Zemlinsky Quartet. She has also collaborated with personalities of other musical genres, Marta Topferová, Iva Bittová, David Dorůžka. Her son Natan plays cello with Zuzana Adorján, from whom she learned about the Suzuki method and welcomed cooperation with the Czech Suzuki Association.

Vít Novotný

Vít Novotný was born in 1982 in Prague. During his childhood he successfully avoided systematic lessons at the Music School and found his way to a deeper interest in music thanks to the composer Jakub Nygrýn, to whom he attended private piano and harmony lessons as a teenager. He gained a close and lasting relationship with choral singing thanks to Hana Vašátková, the choirmaster of the children's choir Klíček, of which Vít Novotný was a member. As a graduate of the Faculty of Education at Charles University in Prague in English Language, Music Education and Choral Conducting, he has remained faithful to these fields even after graduation: he teaches English and music education at secondary school and university and works as a lecturer at the Czech Philharmonic. As a choirmaster he has about twenty years of experience with the chamber mixed choirs Imbus, OktOpus and Omnibus. For three summers he was the choirmaster of the Czech Music Youth Summer Camp. Since 2014 he has been the principal choral director of the national choir Bohemiachor. He and his wife Jitka have three daughters. All three of them play violin, how else than by Suzuki method.