Jana Vondráčková,

Ostrava University.

Jana Vondráčková (née Szuściková) graduated from the Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava under the guidance of Mgr. Milada Šlachtová and from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (AMU) in the class of Prof. František Malý. She then completed a postgraduate program in solo piano performance at the Academy of Music in Krakow under the tutelage of Doc. Marek Koziak. Her education culminated in a doctoral program under Prof. Ivan Klánský, whose piano teaching methodology she examined in her dissertation.

During her studies, Jana received several awards in national and international competitions, including “Virtuosi per pianoforte” in Ústí nad Labem, the national round of the ZUŠ competition, both national and international rounds of the F. Chopin competition in Mariánské Lázně, and “Nueva Acropilis” in Madrid. She represented AMU in Prague at the European Piano Stage in Berlin and AMU in Krakow at the Turniej Pianistów in Antonin. She participated in international interpretation courses led by L. Berman, E. Indjic, P. Jasmin, W. Groppenberger, I. Klánský, among others.

Jana worked long-term as an assistant professor in the field of accompaniment at the Department of String Instruments and the Department of Solo Singing at the Faculty of Arts, Ostrava University. She was also a sought-after chamber musician and accompanist at international interpretation courses and competitions. Since 2008, she has been teaching piano, chamber music, methodology, history, and piano literature at the Department of Keyboard Instruments at the Faculty of Arts in Ostrava and the Church Conservatory of the Teutonic Order in Opava.

Jana continuously engages in concert performances, recording, and lecturing activities in the Czech Republic and abroad (Poland, Germany, Ukraine, Spain, etc.). In recent years, she has frequently taught at international interpretation courses and performs in a piano duo with MgA. Alexandr Starý.