Saxophonist Ajda Antolovič was born in Ljubljana in 1995. She began her musical career at the age of eight at her local music school in Kranj with Eva Krajnčan and Andrej Knap. She continued her studies at the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet with Špela Kolenc and passed the matura examination under the supervision of Dejan Prešiček and is currently his student at the Ljubljana Academy of Music. In 2007 she scored 100 points at the regional TEMSIG competition and won a silver plaque and second prize at the national competition; in 2010 she won a gold plaque and a prize for the best performance of a work by a Slovene composer at the national TEMSIG competition; in 2013 she won silver plaques at the national TEMSIG competition and at the Emona International Competition for Young Wind Players. At this year’s national TEMSIG competition she won a first prize and a gold plaque. In 2013 she and saxophonist Nace Kogej performed as soloists with the Symphony Orchestra of the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet. In the 2013/14 academic year she performed as part of the duo A2 (marimba, saxophone) at a concert organised by Glasbena Mladina Ljubljanska, which saw the inaugural performance of a new work by Slovene composer Črt Sojar Voglar, In due tempi. She gave the premiere performance of Žilj by Slovene composter Urška Pompe at the Night of Slovene Composers event in April 2015. She is an active member of several chamber groups (Evterpa Saxophone Quartet, A2, Saxophone Ensemble of the Academy of Music, Academy of Music Big Band, Great Saxess). She has performed as part of a saxophone trio at the World Music Days in Ljubljana, premiering a composition by Tilen Lebar. Also worth highlighting in the past year is her success with the Evterpa Saxophone Quartet at the national TEMSIG competition (99 points and gold plaque). She works with professional symphony orchestras such as the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of the SNG Opera & Ballet Ljubljana.  She has attended seminars by teachers from Slovenia and abroad and world-renowned musicians such as: Jean-Marie Londeix, Arno Bornkamp, Matjaž Drevenšek, Miha Rogina, Dejan Prešiček, Koryun Asatryan, Joel Versavaud, Jean-Denis Michat, Daniel Gauthier, Julien Beaudiment, Nicolas Prost, Tomislav Žužak, Dragan Sremec, Oto Vrhovnik, Lev Pupis, Betka Bizjak Kotnik and the Signum Saxophone Quartet.

Sae Lee from Osaka (Japan) is a graduate of the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, where she studied with Kazuhiko Nakajima and Etsuko Tazaki. She also studied with Julia and Konstantin Ganev.  In 2007 and 2008 she graduated with distinction in piano and chamber music from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in the class of Michel Beroff, Eric Le Sage and László Hadady. She has won nine first prizes at international competitions. She has performed as a soloist with orchestras including the Kansai Philharmonic, the Osaka Philharmonic (Opus), the Sofia Philharmonic, the Pleven Philharmonic and the Kojima Symphony Orchestra. She has performed at the Yamaha Music Festival, the Hamamatsu International Piano Academy, the Nice International Summer Academy of Music and the Paris piano festival at Enghien-les-Bains. As an active chamber musician she works with the saxophonist Miha Rogina, with whom she performs around the world as Duo Kalypso. The duo has won first prizes at the international competition »FNAPEC« (Paris, France) and the Carlo Soliva International Music Contest (Casale Monferrato, Italy). Sae Lee is the piano accompanist of Aurélie Dupont, prima ballerina and director of the Paris Opera Ballet. She has given several television and radio broadcasts in Japan and Europe. She has performed concerts in Andorra, Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Slovenia, Spain, Thailand and Ukraine. At UNESCO’s invitation she gave a well-received recital at the UNESCO conference and Kazakhstan. Sae Lee is currently employed at the Ljubljana Academy of Music

Flautist Laura Felicijan is a third-year student at the Ljubljana Academy of Music in the class of Matej Zupan. She began her musical career at the age of seven, when she began playing the recorder at the Fran Korun Koželjski Music School in Velenje. A year later she entered her first competition, under the guidance of Boštjan Mesarec, and won a gold diploma at the regional TEMSIG competition for young musicians. In 2005 she began studying the flute with Špela Zamrnik. Two years later she began studying with Ana Zajc Smolčnik, with whom she remained for three years. After completing the lower music school programme, she continued her training under Karolina Šantl Zupan at the Velenje Arts Gymnasium. In 2013 she took part in the national TEMSIG competition and won a gold diploma and a third prize. In 2015 she won a first prize at the International Woodwind & Brass Competition in Varaždin. Last year she won a gold diploma and a first prize at the national TEMSIG competition, a first prize at the Davorin Jenko International Music Competition in Belgrade, and a first prize at the international competition in Varaždin. She has attended various masterclasses and trained with numerous well-known teachers such as Paolo Taballione, Mario Caroli, Renata Penezić, among others. She regularly works with various orchestras and chamber ensembles

Mateja Hladnik completed the secondary music school programme in Celje and in 2003 graduated from the Ljubljana Academy of Music in the class of Janez Lovše. While a student she spent a semester as an Erasmus exchange student at the Music Conservatory of Kristiansand, Norway. Following graduation she took up a position at Celje Music School as a piano teacher and répétiteur at the elementary and secondary levels. She is currently employed as a répétiteur at the Ljubljana Academy of Music.

Programme

C. M. Widor: Suite for flute and piano op. 34

M. Cornils: Harlequin

L. Libermann: Sonata for Flute and Piano, Op. 23

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C. Franck: Form Violin Sonata in A minor

F. Schmitt: Legende, Op. 66

E. Denisov: Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano