ABOUT
Marie-Stéphanie Janecek Juma, CELLIST
Marie-Stephanie Janecek Juma is a cellist of unique musical and personal charisma. Born in Lausanne of Swiss-German and Czech parentage, she has performed far beyond the borders of her hometown. Recital engagements have brought her to London, Paris, Geneva, Gstaad, Rome and New York. She has performed as a soloist with the London Soloists Orchestra, the North Hungarian Orchestra Miskole, the Youth Orchestra of Fribourg, with whom she toured the Czech Republic. She also performed the Dvorak Concerto with the BSO (Bloomington Symphony Orchestra).
She studied with Ivan Monighetti at the Musikhochschule of Basel and received her diploma, first prize with honors in June 2004. She also studied in the United States with the great master Janos Starker. Upon her return, she was invited to play for Yo-Yo Ma at the Manchester Cello Festival, a significant point in her career that proved to be a great success. A month later, she played at the Rome Chamber Music festival, where she spontaneously agreed to step on stage with the two Jazz Masters, Paquito D’Rivera and Alon Yavnai, for a “Jazz Debut” which she describes as a “magical musical discovery”.
Marie-Stephanie appeared at the Gstaad Sommets Musicaux Festival, the La Jolla Festival in California, the Verbier Festival, the Tibor Varga Festival, the Rencontres de l'Académie Menuhin, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Davos Festival, the Sully-sur-Loire Festival and Avignon Festival. She was also chosen to perform with Mstislav Rostropovich on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
An active chamber music performer, Marie-Stéphanie Janecek Juma collaborates with artists such as Joshua Bell, Jeremy Denk, Sarah Chang, Gary Hoffman, Robert McDuffie, Gérard Wyss, Julien Quentin and many others. She collaborated with numerous artists including Janos Starker, Frans Helmerson, Gary Hoffman, Ralph Kirshbaum, Maria Kliegel, György Kurtag, Thomas Quasthoff and Benjamin Zander on such occasions as the Kronberg and Verbier Academies.
Her awards are many and she is heard on CD as part of the Musical Talents of Europe (volume VII), compiled by Deutsche Welle. In addition to being an artist of the Swiss Global Artistic Foundation, Marie-Stéphanie Janecek Juma is a laureate of the “Fondation de Groupe Populaire” (Natexis), as a recipient of their prestigious grant.
Highlights also included an appearance at the Zankel Hall at the Carnegie Hall in New York and a future highlight will be a Recital in Berlin with the pianist Julien Quentin on the 5th of February 2019.
Life had been almost too good for me... And it was time for me to mature and go through losses as well as grow through joy. Developing towards being a good mum, a good wife, a good daughter in law, a good friend, a good example... After having such good support from my family and surroundings, it was my turn to support life around me.
The travelling paused for a while, never the Music!
Life was reshaping my emotions to the point I couldn’t wait anymore and it felt like it all had to come out again, through Music!
I am grateful to the precious support of my husband Samir, my dream partner in life and the spicy and sweet smiles of our three beautiful boys.
I was back on stage. A first Recital in Switzerland gave me my wings back and now the dates are slowly starting to fill up!
After these years, Life seems to be even better to me than before.
That is the power of Music!
Marie-Stéphanie Janecek is playing a Matteo Goffriller from 1716.
