About Shonert

 

Born in Russia in 1972, Alexander Shonert is a Jewish violin virtuoso of extraordinary talent, known

worldwide for his magical, emotionally brilliant rich tone, lively onstage personality and sensational improvisational ability. 

Alexander is a graduate of the Novosibirsk Russian State Conservatoire. He has also obtained a doctorate degree at that same institution.

 

Shonert has received many accolades, he is a laureate of numerous prestigious international awards: 

Laureate of International Competition (Berlin), Proclaimed Laureate recieving the prestigious World Prize of Antonin Dvorak (Prague), Laureate of European prize of Gustav Mahler (Prague). 

Since 1999, Shonert has made the musical city of Prague his home. In recognition of his substantial contribution to Czech culture, the right of dual citizenship (Czech and Russian) was conferred upon him in 2010.

Shonert performs throughout the whole of Europe, both as a soloist and as a guest soloist of philharmonic and chamber orchestras. He has played numerous concerts in the United States as well. 

Shonert also performs in Trio Ilya Levinsky & Shonert, featuring Russian vocal tenor great, Ilya Levinsky and pianist, Alina Levinsky.

 

Shonert's emotionally rich tone, his intensity of feeling and the striking originality of his interpretative style, combined with enchanting improvisations, make him one of the world's greatest violinists today.

Shonert embodies the deep Jewish soul like no other. In his playing you will hear the love, the tragedy, the laughter and the future of the Jewish people.

 

The legendary Maestro Josef Suk, talks about Shonert and his interpretation of Dvorak's compositions in the show "Z metropole" on Czech Television. About Shonert he said, "Shonert is a brilliant artist, gifted by God. I was moved, because my famous great-grandfather Antonin Dvorak deserves to be interpreted in such a way."

 

Shonert was honored when Czech Television produced and broadcast a film documentary about him and the magical, musical life he leads, simply entitled, "The Life Journey of a Violin Genius."

In 2005, he was the featured soloist performing with the Prague Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra.

That same year, Shonert also made his very successful United States debut.

Czech National Artist, Maestro Vaclav Hudecek about Alexander Shonert's staccato playing said, "This is phenomenal! I have never heard anything like that in my life!”

 

Shonert represents both the Czech Republic and the Russian Federation at various cultural events in the countries of the European Union (he represented Czech national culture at the European Commission in Brussels in 2009), and in the United States. In 2014, Shonert played a very well recieved recital at the prestigious National Gallery of Arts in Washington DC.

 

Over the last few years, Shonert has also developed and refined, a number of wonderful new concert programs, including the brand new sensation, "Brilliant Friends", featuring the music of real life friends and collaborators, P.I. Tchaikovsky and Antonin Dvorak, (see it's seperate page on Artists drop down menu). Also, "Shonert Plays The Jewish Classics And Gershwin," which combines his lovely, brilliant interpretations of Jewish classics and the fabulous, sparkling tunes of the legendary George Gershwin and "Dancing Violins," a program for violin and piano, combining a wide range of Spanish, Russian, German, Czech, Romanian, Armenian, Arabian, Gypsy and Jewish dances.

Shonert is often accompanied on these programs by his mother, Natalia Shonert on piano.

 

Apart from his concert activities, Shonert is also a very successful and popular educator. He runs his own music school in Prague, Czech Republic. Shonert's teaching methods stem from the best traditions of the "Russian Violin School," combined with his own unique knowledge, talent and experience. Shonert's hard working students play in various orchestras in Russia, Europe and the United States.