Biography

Shorter BIO

Petra Onderuf took up the violin in her childhood in Slovakia, and after a short flirt with playing the cello, she turned away from classical music to embrace Ethno and traditional styles, in her travels around Europe and through encounters along the way. Through a rigorous jazz education, she was brought into her own as a cross-style performer, happily playing bebop in a Jazz club one night, Bulgarian tunes on a Folk festival stage the next. After finishing her studies, she branched out into jazz composition and arrangement, which has brought a new dimension to what remains her gift as a performer: that of sharing her limitless energy, virtuosity and inventiveness with her audience.

Longer BIO

Petra Onderuf was born in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia. She took up the violin at a tender age, before switching to cello 7 years later. During her studies at Conservatory in Brno (Czech) she realized that classical music was not for her, bringing her back to violin and the discovery of jazz and World music. She studied and graduated in jazz violin at the Conservatory in Klagenfurt (Austria) with Max Grosch quickly following up by graduating as well in Jazz Composition and Arrangement with Johannes Berauer. She has notably attended workshops by Christian Howes, Mark Feldman, Simone Zanchini, Brian Blade, John Patitucci for Jazz, as well as in other styles: Indian music with Sharat Chandra Srivastava and Pt. Suresh Tal Walkar, World music with many wonderful musicians that she met on her way.
Her music style developed through her studies, travels, and collaborations. Through a rigorous jazz education, she was brought into her own as a cross-style performer, happily playing bebop in a Jazz club one night and Bulgarian tunes on a Folk festival stage the next. After the completion of her studies, she branched out into jazz composition and arrangement, which has brought a new dimension to what remains her gift as a performer: that of sharing her limitless energy, virtuosity and inventiveness with her audience.
She is an active performer, composer and educator in the fields of jazz and etno music. She has recorded and performed with many different bands among which Wild Strings Trio, Karavana iluzij, Terrafolk Symbolic Orchestra, Trio A Cuerdas, Primo Tempo, Swinging Strings, Cana flamenca, Sedef, Sabahbluz, Leon Matek, Narayani…
She has performed at prestigious venues and festivals all around the world such as the Fajr Festival (Iran), Sharq Taronalari Festival (Uzbekistan), Nanjing Jazz Festival (China), Cankarjev Concert Hall (Slovenia), Lisinski Concert Hall (Croatia), to name only a few. She has as well collaborated in theater and dance performances in addition to recording for various music projects and movies.