Jana’s debut album ‘Foreigner Face’ was released in 2022 shortly before her UK tour supported by the grant from Help Musicians UK. The album was called ‘The stuff Carnegie Hall shows are made of ‘ by FATEA magazine and rated ‘One of the classiest records I’ve heard all year ‘ by Paul Sexton (BBC, Billboard). Jana’s musicianship is founded in the years of classical training and fused with her love of folk, gospel and jazz. These rich influences result in a broad stylistic range. After being invited to perform her material at the reputable ‘Masterlink Sessions’ in 2021 she continued her creative collaboration with Stefan Redtenbacher, Ross Stanley, Tony Rémy and Mike Sturgis – the ‘Masterlink house band’ of world class session players who’s credits include Herbie Hancock, Annie Lennox, David Bowie etc.. This naturally evolved into a recording session for the aforementioned ‘Foreigner Face’ album, which was co-produced by Fred Mollin (Jimmy Webb’s 10 Easy Pieces). Jana’s headline tour introduced her music to a wider UK audience and saw her first international collaboration with Varga Quartett Wien, an Austrian classical string quartet based in Vienna led by her brother Pavol. Together they’re working on an album influenced by various folk/roots/world and classical music traditions, set to release at the end of 2023/24. Jana was born in Slovakia and comes from a family of classical musicians – she studied flute and piano in Slovakia, Austria and France. She was a flautist in a Slovak prog rock band ‘Persona Grata’ selected to perform at ‘Progressive Nation At Sea’ 2014 festival in Miami, USA organised by Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater. Later that year, she was to become a member of Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra in Czechia when she decided to pursue the career of a singer songwriter and moved to London. Besides classical music, Jana cites folk influences such as Janis Ian and James Taylor, jazz and fusion. Her sense of harmony and melody comes from building on tradition while constantly looking for surprise and disrupting musical expectations. Having to ‘settle’ down in several countries throughout her life, her lyrics often reflect struggles and challenges when starting from zero in a new environment, creating new bonds and finding a community to belong to.
