INTERNATIONAL SAXOPHONE MEETING
INTERNATIONAL SAXOPHONE MEETING
International Saxophone Meeting SAXGO25
Festival: 3—6 July 2025
Tekmovanje: 24—28 November 2025
For the 28th year in a row, Nova Gorica will be a gathering place for saxophonists from Slovenia and abroad. The international meeting of saxophonists in Nova Gorica, which is gaining increasing reputation among musicians and connoisseurs of this instrument, will be marked by a FESTIVAL and MASTER CLASSES in early
July, and at the end of November, classical saxophonists of various nationalities will gather in the city to compete in the jubilee 10th edition of the INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION in classical saxophone. Under the artistic direction of Boštjan Simon and Jan Gričar, excellent saxophonists who have already established themselves abroad will come to us, and their performances will complement the diverse festival program. At concerts in Nova Gorica and the surrounding area, we will be able to listen to the saxophone in various contexts of classical compositions, jazz and various other contemporary styles over four days, in which all its expressive peculiarities are revealed.
Project manager
Pavla Jarc
Co-organizers representative
Vladimir Čadež, principal GŠNG
JAN GRIČAR – CLASSICAL SAXOPHONE
Jan Gričar is a representative of the younger generation of successful Slovenian musicians. He graduated from the Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana with the highest honours in the classes of Professors Matjaž Drevenšek and Miha Rogina. Jan continued his musical career in France, where he studied at the Regional Conservatory of Versailles under the guidance of Professor Vincent David and successfully completed his master’s studies at the prestigious Paris Conservatory, officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, under the supervision of Professor Claude Delangel. In addition, he obtained a bachelors’ degree in chamber music in the class of Professor Laszlo Hadady. He regularly performs on numerous music stages in Slovenia, Europe and Japan. He has performed as a soloist with the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, the RTV Slovenia Symphonic Orchestra and the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra. During his career, he has played with the Ensemble Intercontemporain and under renowned conductors such as En Shao, Matthias Pintscher, Anton Nanut and Marko Letonja. Jan Gričar is the first prize winner of numerous national and international competitions, such as TEMSIG – Slovenian Music Competition for Youth, Fiorindo International Music Competition, SVIREL– International Music Competition, the International Saxophone Competition in Nova Gorica, etc. He has been awarded several significant prizes for his outstanding achievements in the field of music: the Škerjanc Award of the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet, as well as the Prešeren Award and the Outstanding Academic Achievement Award of the University of Ljubljana. He repeatedly won the Zois Scholarship and was also a holder of the scholarship awarded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia. He works at the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet, where he teaches saxophone and chamber music.
See more: www.jangricar.com
BOŠTJAN SIMON – JAZZ & IMPROVISATION
After graduating from the Amsterdam Conservatory, Boštjan Simon returned to Slovenia where he and other musicians founded several internationally renowned ensembles. He explored various approaches in improvisation with the ensembles Trus!, Velkro and Litošt, and performed on stages were such performances are not usually heard. He currently leads the ensemble There Be Monsters, which performs in Slovenia and in the neighbouring countries. He also occasionally plays in the following ensembles: TEJO – Trieste early jazz orchestra, Big band RTV Slovenija, Milan Stanisavlević Qintet, Robert Jukič quartet, Boštjan Simon Quintet, Quartzite Quartet and Big band Nova. In his artistic work he devotes himself to improvisation on the saxophone and combines it with live electronic music and polyrhythmic approaches to composition, as noted in his latest audiovisual project called Etceteral, performed in association with Marek Fakuč and Lina Rica. He draws inspiration from the exposure to different styles of authentic music. He writes down musical bookmarks and sketches, from which music arrangements for each specific group are born. “Each of these groups is an excursion into a specific sound,” says Boštjan, “but I believe it would be possible to find common characteristics to all these excursions especially in the composed rhythms and the mixture of acoustic and electronic sounds, which evoke my broader musical interest.” As far as improvisation is concerned, Boštjan has certainly been strongly influenced by the internationally renowned percussionist Zlatko Kaučič, with whom he had the honour of playing in a duet at one of the past editions of the SAXGO festival. The SAXGO School, the BCMF festival and his Kombo groups represent an important incubator of improvisation in the wider Goriška region.
Barbara Poša Belingar
Public relations, contact person and
program coordinator
T: + 386 5 335 40 13
M: + 386 41 775 089
E: pr@kulturnidom-ng.si
We are here…
Kulturni dom Nova Gorica cultural centre
Bevkov trg 4
SI – 5000 Nova Gorica
