Janoska Ensemble

The Janoska Ensemble consists of the brother trio Ondrej and Roman Janoska, who grew up in Bratislava, on violins and František Janoska on piano, and her brother-in-law Julius Darvas, who was born in Constance, on double bass. A commonality of both families lies in their active musical tradition. The Janoskas have been playing for six generations, Julius Darvas has played double bass for three generations. As a further commonality, all ensemble members can point to first-class classical training and award-winning solo mastery. 

With their polyglot musical language and breathtaking playing technique, the four musicians break all genres: their debut CD, which was awarded gold within a few months, also bears the fitting title "Janoska Style" (Deutsche Grammophon 2016). Their 2019 album "Revolution" is also close to gold. In 2022, album no. 3 entitled "THE BIG B's" was released. 

The Janoska Ensemble is – speaking in pop jargon - a live band. The emotional, humorous interaction of the artists with their audience and their virtuoso playing practically always result in enthusiastic reactions and standing ovations. Despite their densely booked concert tours, the four musicians convey a tireless desire to make music and are constantly working on new programs and projects. Their unique "Janoska Style" is the basis for everything still to come and a guarantee of quality for one of the most exciting and universal music ensembles of today. 

One can hardly describe the "Janoska Style" in a single sentence. It would take a long time to list all the biographical and artistic ingredients that make up this style - perhaps it is most likely possible to explain as follows: The "Janoska Style" is a new, jointly created musical vision, which – based on classical music – creates a combination of Jazz, Pop and other stylistic elements; Perhaps the most important part of making music together is the forgotten art of improvisation in classical music. The result is a new, unprecedented synergy, a bridge between original and modern interpretation along with a fusion of improvisation and creativity: the "Janoska Style". 

This concentrated versatility of the Janoska Ensemble now breaks new ground in the choice of musical material on the album THE BIG B's, which was released worldwide on Deutsche Grammophon in August 2022. The Janoska Ensemble is also engaged in a kind of ongoing "improvisation mission" in the form of workshops and master classes: this teaching activity has taken the four musicians to Kronberg Academy, the Amadeus Festival Vienna or Gstaad to the Menuhin Festival. The reactions of the course participants were consistently euphoric: The collaboration with the Janoska Ensemble – according to the unanimous feedback – gave them much more self-confidence to improvise freely in a classical context.

Ondrej Janoska plays a violin by Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi from 1760

Roman Janoska plays a Matteo Goffriller from 1703: both instruments were kindly provided by the Goh Family Collection.

František Janoska is a Bösendorfer artist.

Julius Darvas, Roman Janoska and Ondrej Janoska are Thomastik-Infeld-Artists. 

2023