We would like to inform you that the concert of Domen Koren and Quarter to Jazz will be available on Festival Ljubljana Facebook profile on Thursday, 7th January, at 6.30 pm. The viewing of the concert is free of charge.
The programme notes are available here.

DOMEN KOREN, saxophone
Sae Lee, piano

Quarter to Jazz
Zala Smolnikar, vocal
Peter Smrdel, bass
Žiga Smrdel, drums
Anže Vrabec, piano

Programme:
T. Escaich: Lutte
F. Schmitt: Légende, Op.66
L. Firšt: Meditation for alto saxophone and piano (premiere performance)
C. Debussy, arr. V. David: Rhapsody for saxophone and orchestra

B. Golson/ J. Hendricks, arr. Quarter to Jazz: Along came Betty
J. Privšek/ E. Budau, arr. Quarter to Jazz: Nič se ne zgodi
P. Gojković, arr. Quarter to Jazz: Kafu mi, draga, ispeci
Ljudska, arr. Quarter to Jazz: Zrejlo je žito
C. C. Greenwood/ E. J. O’Brien/ J. R. Guy Greenwood/ Ph. J. Selway/ T. E. Yorke, arr. Quarter to Jazz: Exit music
D. Beganović: Find me at the end

Domen Koren began learning the saxophone at the age of eight with Betka Bizjak Kotnik at Moste–Polje Music School before continuing his training at Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet with Lev Pupis. Having passed the music academy entrance exams in both Munich and Ljubljana, he chose the Ljubljana Academy of Music, where he is currently completing a master’s course under Matjaž Drevenšek. He has also trained with Joonatan Rautiola at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and with Antonio Felipe Belijar at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Castilla-La Mancha in Spain. He has won several first prizes and gold plaques at important music competitions in Slovenia and abroad and has performed as a soloist with the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, the Wind Orchestra of the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet, the String Chamber Orchestra of the Ljubljana Academy of Music and the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra (three times). He is an active member of several chamber ensembles, with which he has appeared at important concerts, recitals, festivals, world congresses and other musical events across Slovenia and Europe. He regularly attends masterclasses with distinguished musicians and actively collaborates with Slovene and foreign composers, who have already dedicated several works to him. In 2018 he won the Student Prešeren Prize of the Ljubljana Academy of Music.

Sae Lee is a graduate of the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, where she studied with Kazuhiko Nakajima and Etsuko Tazaki. In 2007 and 2008 she graduated with distinction in piano and chamber music from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. Her teachers there were Michel Beroff, Eric Le Sage and László Hadady. She has won nine first prizes at international competitions, among them a first prize at the Città di Padova International Competition (Padua, Italy) and a first prize at the Albert Roussel International Piano Competition (Sofia, Bulgaria). As an active chamber musician she works with the saxophonist Miha Rogina, with whom she performs around the world as Duo Kalypso. Sae 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 is currently employed at the Ljubljana Academy of Music.

Quarter to Jazz consists of a group of young musicians united by their love of jazz. They met while studying music in Klagenfurt. Two members have already completed their studies, while the other two are still students. Each of the members has accumulated considerable performance and study experience in their own field and all of them also enjoy expressing themselves through composition. Last year they won a gold plaque at the TEMSIG (Young Musicians of Slovenia) competition. The group consists of Zala Smolnikar (voice), Peter Smrdel (bass), Žiga Smrdel (drums) and Anže Vrabec (piano).