Oskar Laznik (Slovenia), alto saxophone
Matej Grahek (Slovenia), flute
Tadej Horvat (Slovenia), piano

Oskar Laznik (1987) started playing the saxophone in 1996 at the Hrastnik Music School with Prof. Vanja Tomcu. Between 2002 and 2006 he attended the Secondary School of Music and Ballet in Ljubljana, where he successfully graduated in the class of Prof. Dejan Prešička. He continued his studies in the class of Prof. Matjaž Drevenšek at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, where he graduated with special distinction in 2010. In 2012 he completed his postgraduate studies at the University of Music and Dance in Cologne with Prof. Daniel Gauthier. Oskar is a winner of numerous competitions: the National Competition of Young Musicians of the Republic of Slovenia (2004), the International Competition of Young Saxophonists in Nova Gorica (2003, 2007), the European Competition of Young Saxophonists Gap, France (2003, 2005), and a finalist of the Hülsta Woodwinds Competition in Münster, Germany. In 2006 he received the Škerjanč Prize of the Ljubljana Secondary School of Music and Ballet for outstanding merits in the artistic promotion of the school, and in 2008 the Prešeren Prize of the Ljubljana Academy of Music for his performance of Lars-Erik Larsson’s Concerto with the Symphony Orchestra of the Slovene National Opera and Ballet Ljubljana. His repertoire includes standard works for saxophone as well as transcriptions of works from the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods. As a soloist and chamber musician he has appeared at many festivals (Festival Ljubljana, International Biennial of Contemporary Music Koper, Festival Slowind, Two days & two nights of new music Odessa, Festival Lent, Festival Echos, World music days), and in many countries (Serbia, Germany, Austria, France, Latvia, Ukraine, Italy, USA) and halls (Gasteig Munich, Kennedy Center Washington). In 2016, he released Saxala with percussionist Simon Klavžar, a concise Saxala with works for saxophone and percussion by Slovenian composers, and in 2019 the CD Légende with pianist Tade Horvat on the MDG Detmold label. He also devotes a lot of attention to collaborating with composers and expanding the repertoire for saxophone. New works have been dedicated to him by composers such as Peter Šavli, Nina Šenk, Uroš Rojko, Matej Bonin, etc. Since September 2012 he has been a professor of saxophone and chamber music at the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet. He also gives masterclasses at various universities (Hartt School of Music Hartford, Hochschule für Musik und Theater München).

Matej Grahek (1974) has been a solo flutist of the Slovenian Philharmonic since 1997. He has been a professor at the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music since 1999, a year later he became an assistant professor at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, where he has been a full professor since 2022. He completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the Ljubljana Academy of Music under Professor Fedja Rupel, and spent two years at the Salzburg Mozarteum under the world-renowned flutist Irena Grafenauer. He has played as a solo flutist of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of world-renowned conductors such as Carlos Kleiber, Riccardo Muti, Sir Neville Marriner, Serge Baudo, Charles Dutoit, etc. He performs as a soloist with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and other orchestras, and also devotes a great deal of attention to jazz with his solo projects with the RTV Slovenia Big Band, and he is a co-founder of the Artvento wind quintet. Recently, he has performed concertos by Jean Riviere and Andrea Jolive with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra. He has performed as a soloist and in chamber groups in Europe, Japan, Oman, Chile, Argentina and the USA. He has participated in eleven albums, five of which are Grahka’s solo projects. In 2000, he received the Golden Rooster Award in the chamber music category for his CD Opus di Jazz, released by ZKP RTV Slovenia. His solo project Night Birds with the RTV Slovenia Big Band was released by ZKP in 2003, and his CD with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra (featuring concerts by Rouse, Arnold and Lazar) was released in 2005. In 2007, the Slovene Composers’ Society released a CD of novelties written for the wind trio of the Slovenian Philharmonic (Grahek-Kotar-Mitev). In 2008, he released a CD with Croatian guitarist Tvrtko Sarić for the largest Croatian label Aquarius Records. In the same year, a CD by the ArtVento wind quintet was released on the German Whoopee Records label. In 2013 he released Mozart Quartets for flute and string trio under the auspices of the ZKP RTV Slovenia label. He has also released his latest album (2023), the online album Kaleidoscope, under the same label. He has also collaborated on CDs by Ivo Petrič, Vito Žuraj, Lojze Krajnčan and Ales Rendle, and on many recordings by the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra. for his hobby, Grahek founded the “Chicharito Jazz Quartet”, in which he plays with such jazz cats as Jaka Pucihar, Aleš Avbelj and Aleš Rendla. During the covid 19 pandemic, he wrote a book, Diary of a Little Musician on the Big Ocean, published by Primus, in which he describes his sailing across the Atlantic in 2019.

Pianist Tadej Horvat graduated with honours from the Academy of Music in Ljubljana in 2005 under Prof. Dubravka Tomšič Srebotnjak and completed his specialist studies in June 2007 under Prof. Alexander Madžar in Bern. For his academic achievements he was awarded the Škerjanč Prize and two Prešeren Prizes. He has been awarded golden plaques, prizes and special mentions at national and international competitions. As a soloist, he has appeared with Slovenian and foreign orchestras, with whom he has performed various piano concertos (Mendelssohn, Rachmaninov, Beethoven, Osredkar, Adamič). At the 32nd EPTA International Conference, he performed a solo recital as part of the “International Pianissimo” project. In February 2013, he performed Liszt’s Piano Concerto with the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra in the Gallus Hall of Cankarjev dom as part of the “Night of Pianos” subscription concert. In July 2014, at the invitation of the Slovenian Embassy, he gave a concert at the famous Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. with flutist Matej Grahko. He was the conductor of the Divertimento orchestra, with which he recreated entertainment and film music and created several original works and arrangements for it. In recent years, he has been collaborating with renowned Slovenian musicians at the most important events and festivals in Slovenia and abroad. As an accompanist in competitions, he has received numerous special awards for exemplary artistic collaboration. Since 2015 she has been leading a piano seminar in the framework of the “Arsensei” summer school. He is employed as a piano accompanist and professor at the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet and works with the Academy of Music as an associate professor.

CONCERT PROGRAMME

Maurice Ravel: Sonatine en trio
I. Modéré

II. Mouvement de menuet

III. Animé

Fernande Decruck: Sonata en Mi#
I. Très modéré, expressif

II. Andante

III. Fileuse

IV. Nocturne et Final

Peter Šavli: Zeppelin 2

Anže Rozman: Groza (Evil)

Russell Peterson: Trio #1
I. Andante/Moderato

II. Adagio/Andante

III. Allegro