Beata Hlavenková, singer-pianist, composer, arranger, and producer, is one of the most distinctive Czech musicians with an inimitable genre-defying authorial style. Her main asset is her courage – the courage to experiment, to search for unconventional harmonies and arrangements. Unbound by genres, based on a deep understanding of jazz, modern classics, pop, and songwriting, all her projects share a clearly identifiable, focused, and sensitive approach to interpretation. She can list a myriad achievements: albums of her works, prestigious music awards, collaborations with both Czech and international musicians, compositions for film and theatre, arrangements of songs for large symphonic orchestras… All imbued with “sparkling music that won’t fade anytime soon”.

She studied composition at Janáček Conservatoire in Ostrava, then attended Jaroslav Ježek Conservatoire for three years, and concluded her studies in 2004 at the University of Massachusetts, graduating in composition, jazz composition, and arrangement. Her first album of jazz works and her music project S’aight were collaborations with her husband, the guitarist Patrik Hlavenka (Patrick Karpentski). In the years 2006–13 she fronted a jazz trio; since her critically album 2013 album Theodoros, she mostly performs solo both at home and abroad. A number of innovative long-term projects with Lenka Dusilová have yielded ripe results: Eternal Seekers (with the Clarinet Factory), and two albums with Baromantika. She also collaborates on various projects with artists such as Iva Bittová, Jiří Havelka, David Ondříček, David Koller, Vladivojna La Chia, VerTeDance, and others.

She recorded her first personal album Joy for Joel (2009) in the US. followed by Theodoros (Czech Angel Award for jazz and blues), Scintilla, and most recently, Bethlehem, which shows how Beata can give a fresh outlook to such traditional material as Christmas carols. Her very successful CDs include the double album for children Pišlické příběhy (Pišlice Stories) in collaboration with the writer Filip Rychlebský. 

Teaching has been a permanent part of her musical career from the outset. She is tenured at the New York University in Prague and previously taught also at Jaroslav Ježek Conservatoire and Janáček Academy of Music in Brno, where she and Patrik Hlavenka founded the very first university course on jazz music in the Czech Republic. She says that music education should “deal with real musicianship and put more emphasis on developing what this or that musician can do best, what suits them and gives them the most joy and satisfaction, which obviously doesn’t mean less work, diligence, or perseverance.”

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“I played the album over several times to see if it would weaken my enthusiasm from the first time round; but it still seems like a truly extraordinary accomplishment on our current scene.”

  Lubomír Dorůžka (after listening to her first album Joy For Joel).

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“She demonstrates throughout, remarkable poise between exuberance and introspection, technical virtuosity and stylistic simplicity, conservatory and spontaneity, the pieces showcasing her exquisite timing, delicacy and command of the keys in myriad styles from minimalism to Debussy-esque impressionism with touches of jazz among the many details revealed with each listen. Housed in a handsome calendar with images of extracted piano parts, the album’s context is complete and compelling, and nothing is overdone in deed or sentiment, making it safe to conclude that Hlavenková’s gift is our gift also.”

Stuart Marshall (Great Britain) – about Theodoros

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“Pianist and composer Beata Hlavenková has recorded a musical allegory on overcoming mediocrity. Her album Scintilla (Spark) really does flash, at least on a European scale.”

Tomáš S. Polívka

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“Bethlehem is a recording that will enter history with its tenderness, humility, longing, and unbridled joy. Her humanity is palpable, the atmosphere unique. To enter the musical world of Beata Hlavenková is to stand face to face with mystery and miracle.”

Milan Bátor

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“I've been listening to the recorded output of Beata Hlavenková for a number of years now. I was first introduced to her work via the album ‘Theodoros' by my mastering engineer, Tony Cousins, a man with impeccable taste, and it struck me as a rare example of someone working between genres, with a beautifully innate, but restrained, melodicism, extraordinary acuity, and remarkable, seemingly effortless, dexterity. Her performance on that album, although not derivative in any way, reminded me a little of Sakamoto's earlier piano stylings, possibly in its diversity and aesthetics as much as anything, which is a rare comparison for me to make, a compliment I couldn't afford many pianists. 

Since that time Beata and I have communicated frequently and I've kept abreast of her work as composer, instrumentalist, orchestrator and, more recently, vocalist. Her talent allows her to excel in a variety of music genres whilst her own work tends to defy clear definition. 

I remain curious as to where her, as yet untapped potential, will take Beata from here.” 

David Sylvian

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