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Dima Bondarev

About Me

Born in 1984 in Ukraine, Dima Bondarev began playing the trumpet at the age of nine. Initially studying classical music, he soon discovered his passion for jazz. Between 2008 and 2013, Dima was highly active in his homeland, performing at major jazz festivals and concert tours. He was a member of the renowned Ukrainian jazz bands Acoustic Quartet and Magnifika Group.

In 2011 and 2016, he was awarded the Polish Cultural Scholarship “Gaude Polonia,” allowing him to study in Warsaw and Wrocław with Piotr Wojtasik and Robert Majewski.

Since 2013, Dima has been based in Berlin, where he pursued both Bachelor’s and Master’s studies at the Jazz Institut Berlin (JIB) under the mentorship of Gerard Presencer, Tom Arthurs, and Sebastian Studnitzky, as well as John Hollenbeck, Greg Cohen, Geoffrey De Masure, Julia Hülsmann, Tino Derado, Guilherme Castro, and Javier Reyes. During his studies, he received the JIB-Jazz-Preis der Karl Hofer Gesellschaft (2015) and the Deutschlandstipendium (2017). Shortly after earning his Master’s degree in composition in 2020, he was awarded the Elsa-Neumann Stipendium.

In 2021, he was selected for the Focusyear program at Jazzcampus Basel (Switzerland), where he deepened his artistic vision under the mentorship of Ambrose Akinmusire, regularly performing with world-class jazz artists.

Dima has collaborated with renowned musicians such as Aaron Parks, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Larry Grenadier, Logan Richardson, Cuong Vu, Kris Davis, Lionel Loueke, Jorge Rossy, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Elena Pinderhughes, Greg Cohen, Doug Weiss, Joey Baron, Conrad Herwig, Steve Turre, Nels Cline, Jim Black, NDR Big Band, Brussels Jazz Orchestra, Guillermo Klein, Josh Ginsburg, Wanja Slavin, Elias Stemeseder, and Ingrid Laubrock, among many others. All while leading his own projects and developing a unique artistic voice.

He released his debut album, I’m Wondering (Unit Records, 2017), followed by his second album, Get a Second Wind (Dnipro and Kruchi, 2025), featuring Wanja Slavin (alto sax), Igor Spallati (bass), and Jim Black (drums).

In 2025, Dima was nominated for the Deutscher Jazzpreis (German Jazz Award) in the brass instruments category, further cementing his reputation as a leading voice in contemporary jazz.

Both as a sideman and bandleader, Dima has performed at major jazz festivals, including North Sea Jazz Festival (Netherlands), Umbria Jazz Festival (Italy), XJAZZ Festival, Berlin Jazz Festival (Germany), Jazz nad Odrą (Poland), Jazz Bez, Leopolis Jazz Fest (Ukraine), and Jazz à Montauban (France), among others.