Dunja Lavrova

Recognised as an internationally-acclaimed classical violinist with a deep understanding of non-classical genres, free improvisation and score arranging, Dunja Lavrova has participated in collaborative projects with countless international musicians from eclectic backgrounds.

From a very young age, as the daughter of a European singer-songwriter, Dunja has spent a significant part of her life in a recording studio. As a result, Dunja has always been passionate about composition and arranging - the skills she continued to develop as a student at The Yehudi Menuhin School (UK) and The Royal College of Music (London).  

Dunja has supplied her score arrangements worldwide in a professional capacity. Her diverse and growing library of arrangements and compositions have been embraced by performers and institutions alike. Dunja's arrangements cover all genres of music - from classical to jazz, from

rock to pop. Decades of Dunja's professional experience as a studio musician and improvisor, as well as her composing skillsets, enable her arrange and supply music for violin and piano, string groups of all sizes and ensembles with strings and brass.  

Her own performance of one of her most popular arrangements, the traditional Russian song Dark Eyes, has over 137,000 views on YouTube, and demonstrates her creative talents.

Since 2015, the majority of Dunja’s concert repertoire has consisted of a combination of her own arrangements and the scores she has commissioned or helped to resurrect from the archives. She has performed her own arrangements for solo violin with piano or jazz trio accompaniment at numerous prestigious venues in London which include Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, Soho Jazz Club, King's Place (London), the Cadogan Hall (London), St Mary's Perivale (London), just to name a few. 

In 2019, Dunja was invited to arrange the scores for the highly-acclaimed “The Greatest Love of All: The Whitney Houston Show” (presented by Showtime Australia), with which she has also toured as the Leader and Musical Director all over the United Kingdom on multiple occasions.

In the same year, she created a show with the internationally-acclaimed, Melbourne-based pianist Tamara Vasilevitsky, which showcases a broad spectrum of musical genres through Dunja’s own musical arrangements for violin and piano. The show still regularly performs to sold-out audiences in Melbourne and Brisbane. 

Dunja is the creator, director and lead arranger of ‘Dunja Lavrova and the Hot Three’, which features her as the lead violin virtuoso soloist, supported by a jazz trio. This exciting project involves a delectable fusion of music from the classical, traditional jazz and vintage Hollywood traditions - with an original and modern twist.

Another of Dunja’s projects included editorial work for Carl Fischer Music (USA) of previously-archived “Levee Dance” (Opus 27, No. 4) score by the African-American violinist and composer Clarence Cameron White. The score was included in the ABRSM 2020-2024 Violin Syllabus and has recently been performed on London Symphony Orchestra’s Digital Concert Hall, by the orchestra’s Leader - Carmine Lauri.

During the Victorian lockdowns of 2020, Dunja performed her brand new solo show (her own arrangements of music featuring multiple musical genres, performed with a backing track) on numerous online festival platforms, including The Royal Albert Hall’s “Royal Albert Home” festival (London) with Professor Brian Cox and the renowned British presenter/ comedian Robin Ince, and the “Arts of the Minds” Festival (Torquay). 

The same year, Dunja began a creative collaboration with the Australian producer / singer-songwriter Miss Chess, for whom she has composed and recorded numerous string arrangements. The most recent collaboration with Miss Chess includes the "Happy Jolly Very Extra Merry Christmas song", which generated over 30,000 listeners worldwide within 2 days of its ‘soft’ release and featured such renowned Australian artists as Frank Bennett (four-time ARIA nominee), Tim Watson (ARIA award-winning band Taxiride), George Kapiniaris (Actor/Musician), Kamahi Djordon King (Aboriginal Australia’s Cabaret Performing Artist) and his female alter ego ‘Constantina Bush’ (Australia’s Premier Indigenous Showgirl), and The Australian Children's Choir (with Daniel Brinsmead, ACC Artistic Director).

Renowned as a passionate musical philanthropist and having having a deep understanding of the challenges at a start of any musician's career, Dunja recognises the difficulties the musicians and artists all over the world have had to face over the last two years. As a result, Dunja goes out of her way to contribute a significant amount of her time to collaborating with unsigned Australian artists, assisting them on arrangements of their songs and recording on their albums. Dunja believes that successful musicians have an ethical responsibility to support the emerging stakeholders in the music industry, and that creativity is a gift that can go a long way when shared to lift the cultural spirit of audiences in such trying times.

Dunja works remotely and is available to discuss any new score arrangements and tracks over Zoom meetings, with new tracks recorded at her home studio and shared over online file transfers. 

Alternatively, she is available to travel, consistent with any local or international restrictions that may apply, at any given period of time.

Dunja's existing scores and arrangements can be purchased via "Contact Me" form on this website. 

Dunja Lavrova is represented in AustralAsia by Gawjus Management for her professional services of musical arrangement, musical collaboration, assistance with song composition, music consultancy, performance, studio sessions and appearances.

Contact GAWJUS MANAGEMENT: +613 9824 7000