Karel Dohnal

Clarinettist Karel Dohnal, a graduate of the Ostrava Conservatoire and Prague´s Academy of Music, laureat at the competitions in Prague, Roma, Bayreuth, Seville and London, is an active and valued soloist with a wealth of experience performing in many countries in Europe, Asia, South and North America. He also studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, Universität der Künste Berlin and Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory in Sankt Petersburg.

As a principal clarinettist he cooperated with such a orchestras as BBC Symphony Orchestra London, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Solistes Européens Luxembourg and others.

He is member of the State Opera Orchestra Prague, the Trio Amadeus and the PhilHarmonia octet. Karel is a professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Ostrava University and gives regulary master classes both at home and abroad.

Karel Dohnal has built up a reputation as an erudite, technicaly outstanding and dedicated performer of modern and contemporary music, in particular, and is appreciated for his promotion of brand new or less frequently performed works.

"There should always be respect for the composer" he says, "but I like the fact that, to a certain extent, I can put the finishing touches to new works right there on the stage, and can respond with more immediacy to the atmosphere in the hall, to the audience and to the acoustic"

 The clarinettist attracted also big attention with his numerous performances all around the world of Karlheinz Stockhausen´s 50-minute-long extravaganza Harlequin, where the musician, dressed in a harlequin costume, plays on the clarinet, dances and mimes as well. Critics write of extraordinary work enhaced by an inimitable, phenomenal interpretation.

Dohnal´s recordings are also higly successful. These include the CD (LH Promotion rec.,) featuring clarinet concertos by Rudolf Kubín, Jean Françaix and Miloslav Kabeláč Concertante Symphony with the conductors Marko Ivanovič and Ondřej Vrabec and Prague Radio Symphony and Moravian Philharmonic orchestras. This most recent profile CD by clarinettist was extremly well received by both listeners and critics :

"In recording these works, Karel Dohnal has proved once again his artistic sovereignty, bolstered by technical brilliance, crystal clear intonation, persuasiveness of expression, and his courage to enter some of the unchartered waters of the clarinet repertoire."Harmonie Online

His recent apperances includes solo concerts with, Bamberger Symphoniker (Copland), Essener Philharmoniker (Copland, Mozart), Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra (Kabeláč), Györ Philharmonic (Kubín), Liepaja Symphony (Weber) and concerts in Holland, Portugal, Poland, Latvia, Germany, Hungary and Luxembourg.

Karel Dohnal plays Henri SELMER Paris 'Recital' clarinets.