TANJA SREDNIK QUARTET
Tanja Srednik, vocals
Blaž Jurjevčič, piano
Jaka Krušič, double bass
Gregor Hrovat, drums

NOVA Chamber Orchestra
Blaž Pahor, conductor

At Christmas, when everything is decorated and time slows down a little, we are once again reminded of everything that is familiar – homemade potica, the family hearth, and familiar words. Warm memories are also evoked by timeless Christmas melodies such as Let It Snow, I’ll Be Home for Christmas, and Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, sung by the evergreen Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Michael Buble. At the concert ZA BOŽIČ DOMA (At Home for Christmas), the voice of local singer Tanja Srednik will take you on a journey through holiday evergreens in Slovenian translations and fresh arrangements, Slovenian pop songs, and original compositions. She will be accompanied by her experienced quartet and the soft sounds of the NOVA Chamber Orchestra, which will be conducted on this occasion by Blaž Pahor, the current conductor of the NOVA Big Band.

Tanja Srednik is a graduate jazz singer who successfully navigates between different musical genres and stages. She studied at the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet under Professor Nadi Žgur and at the Gustav Mahler Private Music University in Klagenfurt. She performs with various ensembles, bands, vocal groups, and big bands at home and abroad, but she is most often heard with the Jazz Punt Big Band from Tolmin. She has co-created several programs with them, from the current one dedicated to Queen, “We Will Rock You,” to their most successful project, “A Tribute to The Beatles.” Together, they won first prize for their music at competitions in Hungary and the Czech Republic, and released an album on their 10th anniversary. As a soloist, she has performed with the RTV Slovenia Big Band, the Grosuplje Big Band, and the NOVA Big Band, and continues to collaborate on the Jazz Sacral project led by Nada Žgur. She can be heard as a backing vocalist with Nina Strnad and Ana Soklič, and in the past with the band Laibach, at Slovenska popevka, the Slovenian Chanson Festival, and Ime leta on Radio Val 202. She is the leader of the Tanja Srednik Quartet, for which she also writes songs and arrangements. She occasionally lends her voice to cartoon characters, most recently to Sovice on RTV Slovenia. She is also attracted to the stage, and as part of the Gledališče Glej project, she received the Vizionar award for best performance for the musical Une druge tri sestre. She is currently part of the choir of Slovenia’s largest musical, Povodni mož, and part of the creative team of the performance Aplavz na odprti sceni at the Šentjakobsko gledališče theater. She enjoys passing on her knowledge to younger generations, previously at Vocal BK Studio and Mali šola rock’n’rolla, and now as part of her Pop, Rock, and Jazz Singing program.

The NOVA Chamber Orchestra is the string ensemble of the NOVA Music Society from Nova Gorica. It consists of amateur musicians, primary and secondary school pupils, students and postgraduates studying music, young professionals and professional musicians, who contribute their knowledge to the orchestra’s continuous progress. It was founded in 1996 by renowned violin teacher Jurij Križnič, who successfully led it until 2010. At that time, the orchestra expanded into a symphony orchestra, with conductor Simon Perčič taking over the baton. After seven eventful and project-filled years of the NOVA Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the string section once again expressed a desire for a smaller, chamber ensemble. From 2017 to last year, Mojca Batič, Ana Cotič, Barbara Grahor Vovk, and Polona Repše were responsible for the harmony, cohesion, and artistic leadership of the ensemble. In January 2024, David Bandelj took over the baton. They do not limit themselves to performing works by classical composers, but also enjoy playing rhythmic, folk, and jazz music. During this time, the orchestra has performed at least two diverse programs and several full-length concerts almost every season, also in collaboration with other ensembles such as Big Band NOVA, the Noreia group, various choirs, and numerous other soloists. They pay special attention to creating opportunities for solo performances by members of the association and young musicians, and by commissioning new works from young Slovenian composers, they enrich the literature for such ensembles.