Jana Vondrů (1991)
is a singer operating on the border of music genres, mostly in the field of contemporary and experimental music. She cooperates with The Ensemble Opera Diversa, both in a concert and scenic way. Jana is a member of the Dust in the Groove ensemble which connects contemporary music, jazz and improvisation, and of the trio ConTRIOlogy focusing on Czech and Slovak contemporary classical music. She collaborates with a multi-instrumentalist Tomáš Vtípil. With him, she participated both in live projects (a drama Woyzeck at the HaDivadlo theatre) and in recording vocal parts in radio and theatre plays. In her solo work, she is predominantly interested in the songs of the 20th and the 21st century.
Jana Vondrů graduated from the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno with a bachelor's degree under the supervision of Mgr. MgA. Ivana Mikesková, Ph.D., she continued with her voice studies under the supervision of Mgr. art. Dagmar Podkamenská Bezačinská, ArtD. At the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava where she completed a master's degree. She worked with Brno Philharmonics and Brno Contemporary Orchestra. In 2023, as a part of the Moravský podzimu (Moravian Autumn festival), she introduced the mono-opera La voix humaine (The Human Voice) by Francis Poulenc for a singer and a phone receiver, adapted for an ensemble ofpercussion intruments. In the opera studio of the Slovak National Theatre, she sang the mono-opera The Diary of Anne Frank by Grigori Fried and performed in the title role in the opera Zuzanka Hraškovie by Jozef Grešák. She is a member of the PMP Ensemble whose existence is inextricably linked to the Prague Musice Performance festival and its director Jan Bartoš. With this orchestra, she performed during the days of contemporary music in Darmstadt, and together, they also recorded the opera Trillium X by Antony Brexton. She performed at the festival Opera, Ostrava Days and International Festival of Slavic Music and a Brno festival of electronic and experimental music called Faun. At the Exposition of New Music, she introduced the opera Here Be Sirens by the American composer Kate Soper (2022). At the JazzFestBrno in 2019, she performed as a leader of a ten-member improvisation choir together with the Norwegian-Czech band NOCZ. Together with a singer and composer Lucie Páchová, she performed in the sound installation Approximate in 2022 at the New Opera Days in Ostrava. She was a member of a vocal ensemble which introduced songs of the American and European jazz legend Michael Mantler at the Jazz Goes to Town festival in 2022.
Taking part in a five-week festival ISING! in China was a great experience for her. It culminated with concerts toghether with a symphonic orchestra in Shanghai, Beijing and Suzhou. She attended masterclasses led by prominent singers of the opera scene such as Kateřina Kněžíková, Martina Janková, Markéta Cukrová, Adam Plachetka, Pavol Bršlík and an opera director David Radok. She is also interested in connecting music and visual art or dance. She collaborates as an artist and author with an internantional art group Continuo Theatre and dance improvisation ensembles Filigrán and Orbita.