Donna Agrell attended the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague and completed her bassoon studies at the Musik-Akademie in Basel, where she first began her specialization in historical instruments.  

Performing and recording with some of the most prestigious European period instrument orchestras and ensembles, she has been a member of the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, an international group of specialists in eighteenth and nineteenth century music, since its founding in 1981 by Frans Brüggen. She was principal bassoonist of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra from 1990–2009.  

Donna Agrell has instructed generations of young musicians at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague (from 1990), and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (from 2000), additionally teaching international mastercourses. She recently completed PhD studies researching nineteenth-century Swedish bassoon repertoire  at Leiden University.