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.

Ninja Jakobsson

Ninja started playing violin at the age of five in a music school in Finland. At the age of 14, she was the first Finnish to be accepted into The Purcell School of Music in London, where she spent a year studying. In 1999, Ninja continued her studies in the Czech Republic, specifically at the Conservatory in České Budějovice under the guidance of Professor Tuula Sivula - Vacková. She then completed her studies back in Finland, at the Novia School in Pietarsaari. During her studies, Ninja participated in many competitions such as the Kocián Competition in Nová Paka or the Beethoven's Castle. She played as a soloist with several orchestras and also performed as concertmaster. She currently teaches at the music school in Vaasa, Finland and is a Suzuki 2nd level 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.

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.

Jiří Sládek

Jiří Sládek is a graduate of the Conservatory in Kroměříž. He started as a member of the Zlín Philharmonic Orchestra and from 1993 to 1999 he was a member of the Cairo International Symphony Orchestra. From 2000 to 2003 he was also involved in folk music as a member of the Czech Song and Dance Ensemble. Currently, in addition to teaching, he is active in various chamber groups and is a permanent member of Ondřej Havelka's Melody Makers Big Band.

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 MACHÁČKOVÁ

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)

Agnieszka Ściążko-Krejbich

Agnieszka holds a Master's degree in violin performance from the Music Academy in Wroclaw (Poland), having previously studied in London and Prague. She won an audition for the European Union Youth Orchestra in 2015. In the Czech Republic, she was a member of the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra and also a member of the PKF Prague Philharmonia Orchestral Academy. In 2021, she completed the Level 1 Suzuki Method course with Agathe Jerie, and now is continuing with Anna Podhajska.

Lucia Fulka Kopsová

Lucia studied at the Bratislava Conservatory first as an exceptional student, then as a regular student in the class of Doc. Mgr. Art Mária Karlíková, ArtD. Since 2005 she continued her studies at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno. In 2010 under the guidance of prof. MgA. František Novotný, she successfully completed her Master's studies. She attended a number of master classes, e.g. with J. Pazdera, V. Hudeček, F. Novotný, F. Török, J. Čižmarovič, B. Kotmel, E. Perényi, S. Yaroshevich, B. Matoušek, M. Grabarczyk, E. Zienkowski and P. Šporcl.
Already as a student of the conservatory she achieved a number of competitive successes. In 2000 she won the first prize at the Dolný Kubín International Violin Competition, in 2001 she received an honourable mention at the Kocian Violin Competition and two years later she became the winner of the Josef Muzika International Violin Competition in Nová Paka. As a student of JAMU she received 2nd prize at the International Beethoven's Hradec Competition in 2006, 2nd prize at the International L. Janáček Competition in 2007 and the "Prize for the Best Interpretation of the Violin Concerto by A. Dvořák" and in 2009 3rd prize at the International Beethoven's Hradec Competition. In 2013 she won 2nd prize at the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation Competition. In April 2006 she participated in the European Youth Chamber Orchestra project in Graz, Austria, led by violinist René Staar, a member of the Vienna Philharmonic. In summer 2006 she toured the European Union as a member of the EU Youth Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy and Andrei Boreyko. She worked with the Bratislava Conservatory Chamber Choir, with whom she toured the USA. Lucia has made recordings for SRo (recordings of concerts from Slovak Radio, recordings for the New Talent competition), CT (Terra Musica), Czech Radio Vltava and Radio Proglas. Since 2007 she has been active in the chamber duo Teres with guitarist Tomáš Hoňek. Since 2011 she has been a member of the PKF - Prague Philharmonia orchestra, and since 2013 a member of Trio Clavio.

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.

Adéla Štajnochrová

Adela is a graduate of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She enjoys chamber music (Skampa Quartet and Martinu Quartet) and is very keen on interpreting Baroque music (Collegoum 1704). She got acquainted with the Suzuki method in the best place - in the class of Jana Hrabaňová, who lovingly and patiently guides her third Štajnochr kid through violin life.

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.

Petra Matějová

As a pianist she has been accompanying students of the Suzuki Violin School for almost 10 years. In the last six years, she has also got to know the Suzuki method through teaching her two sons, who are pupils of Jana Hrabaňová. In her professional life, she is mostly devoted to music of the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries and so-called historically informed performance, playing the hammer piano (fortepiano, pianoforte, hammerklavier) - i.e. the piano in its various historical forms. She is a member of Trio Unitas and collaborates with other ensembles. She has recorded several solo CDs and numerous radio recordings, and teaches the hammered dulcimer at the Music Academy in Krakow. She studied piano at the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts, and hammered dulcimer at the Paris Conservatory, where she also received a doctorate in the same subject in 2014 in collaboration with the Sorbonne and the JAMU.

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.

KLÁRA, BÁRA AND ŠTĚPÁN KOTMELOVI

The Kotmel siblings will provide a music workshop for our little ones at this year's Summer Music Suzuki School. With the bigger ones, practice a bit of lot theory and note reading!