Clarinetist Karel Dohnal, a graduate of the Ostrava Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, laureate of competitions in Prague, Rome, Bayreuth, Seville and London, is an active and long-term awarded soloist with rich concert experience in many countries of Europe, Asia, South and North America. He also studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, the Universität der Künste Berlin and the Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory in St. Petersburg.

As a solo clarinetist, he has collaborated with orchestras such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra London, the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, Solistes Européens Luxembourg and others.

Karel Dohnal is a member of the Prague State Opera Orchestra, the Arundo Wind Trio and the PhilHarmonia Octet Prague. Karel is a professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Ostrava and regularly conducts master classes at home and abroad.

Karel Dohnal has built a reputation as an erudite, technically excellent and exceptionally passionate performer, especially of modern and contemporary music, and is appreciated for his promotion of completely new or less frequently performed works.

"I always approach the composer with great respect, but I like that to a certain extent I can complete new works directly on stage and can respond more directly to the atmosphere in the hall, the audience and the acoustics."

The clarinetist has also attracted great attention with his numerous performances around the world with Karlheinz Stockhausen's solo project Harlequin, in which he plays the clarinet, dances and uses pantomime. Critics write about his interpretation of Harlequin as an extraordinary work enhanced by an inimitable, phenomenal interpretation.

Dohnal's recordings have also been very successful. These include a CD (LH Promotion rec.) with clarinet concertos by Rudolf Kubín, Jean Françaix and Miloslav Kabeláč's Concertante Symphony, which he performed with conductors Marko Ivanovič and Ondřej Vrabec and the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra Olomouc.

"In recording these works, Karel Dohnal once again demonstrated his artistic sovereignty supported by technical brilliance, crystal-clear intonation, convincing expression and courage to enter the uncharted waters of the clarinet repertoire." Harmonie Online

Karel Dohnal's recent performances include solo concerts with the Bamberger Symphoniker (Copland), Essener Philharmoniker (Copland, Mozart), the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra (Kabeláč), Györ Philharmonic (Kubín), Liepaja Symphony (Weber) and concerts in the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Latvia, Germany, Hungary and Luxembourg.

Karel Dohnal plays a Henri Selmer Paris 'Recital' clarinet.