User:Markolynx/sandbox

Biography
Xenia Jankovic was born in 1958 in Niš (Serbia) into a Serbian – Russian family of musicians, from a mother pianist and father conductor. Immidiate fascination and love towards chello made her start studying this instrument with her father already at the age of six. Soon after that she became a student of Janko Ristic from Belgrade (Serbia) and managed to reach her debut with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra when she was only nine. The result of true commitement came two years later when Xenia Jankovic received a state scholarship to the special school of the Moscow Conservatory where she studied with famous Stefan Kalianov and Mstislav Rostropovich. Later, she continued her work with Pierre Fournier in Geneva (Switzerland), Andre Navarra in Detmold (Germany) and worked closely on increasing her profound musical and personal inspiration with Sándor Végh and György Sebők. Xenia Jankovic now lives in Germany. She is married to a German cellist Christoph Richter and has a son Alexander.

Career
In 1981 Xenia Jankovic has gained proper international acclaim when she became first prize winner at the prestigious Gaspar Cassado competition in Florence (Italy). Practically at the same time she also won the Lino Filippini prize for the best interpretation of Brahms. In addition to her recitals all over Europe, Xenia Jankovic has performed as soloist with numerous prestigious orchestras, including Philharmonia Orchestra (London) and the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra as well as radio orchestras of Berlin, Copenhagen, Madrid and Moscow. As one of the most interesting cellists of our time, Xenia Jankovic’s recitals have been many times described as deeply moving, unforgettable and sensitive. The Times (London) magazine described Xenia Jankovic’s performace of Variations on a Rococo Theme (Tchaikovsky) as “She shoved to be one with the music”. Being an active musician, she has worked closely with Gidon Kremer, Andras Schiff and Tabea Zimmermann. Today, Xenia performs with her husband Christoph as Boccherini Celludio and also with Silke Avenhouse and Arvid Engegard she represents Munch Trio. Xenia Jankovic is regularly invited to appear at international festivals across the globe. In recent years, this prolific cellist gave recitals in many major concert halls in Europe, followed by invitations to music festivals of Bordeaux, Dubrovnik, Stresa, Ludwigsburg, Weilburg and others. She has repeated guest at Gidon Kremer's chamber music festival in Lockenhaus, Sándor Végh and György Sebők festival in Cornwall and many others. Xenia Jankovic occupies an important place in the study of contemporary cello music and has already written several works that were premiered by her. On her LP’s and CD’s she was playing a cello works by Bach, Brahms, Debussy, Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev, as well as cello concertos by Julius Klengel.

Teaching
In the last 20 years Xeania Jankovic’s career has been enriched by quality work with young musicians. Starting point was a cello professor role at Zagreb Music Academy (Croatia) (1985-87), same one came at Belgrade Music Academy (Serbia) (1987-89). She has been professor for cello at the Musikhochschule in Würzburg (Germany) since 1990. Finally, as a successor to Andre Navarra and Carina Georgian, Xenia Jankovic became professor for cello department at the famous Musikhochschule at Detmold (Germany) in 2004. There are many achieved musicians that worked closely as students with Xenia Jankovic. Few names included are Susanne Beer, Bridget Mac Rae, Sebastian Jolles, Vanda Djanic, Ulf Shade, Dirk Wietheger, Gernot Nutzenberger as well as many others.