Tine Bizajl, trombone

Mateja Hladnik, piano

Programme:

S. Šulek: Sonata »Vox Gabrieli«

E. Crespo: Improvisation No 1 for Trombone solo

D. Bourgeois: Allegro from Trombone Concerto, Op. 114

A. K. Lebedev: Concerto in one Movement

***

Leon Pokeržnik, trumpet

Nika Tkalec, piano

Programme:

K. Pilss: Sonata for Trumpet and Piano

J. Françaix: Sonatine for Trumpet and Piano

Tine Bizajl began his musical studies at Piran Music School in the class of Mirko Orlač and continued at the Arts Gymnasium in Koper with Albert Kobl and Andraž Cencič. Since 2015 he has been a student at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, where he is studying with Jonas Bylund and Tomer Maschkowski. He has attended masterclasses with notable trombonists such as Lars Karlin, Michael Steinkühler, Jesper Juul, Sven-Erik Eriksson, Antonello Mazzucco, Michael Massong and Dušan Kranjc. His prizes include a silver plaque at the 2008 edition of the national TEMSIG (Young Musicians of Slovenia) competition, gold plaques in 2011 and 2014, and first prize in category III.a in 2017; bronze (2010), silver (2013) and gold diplomas (2009, 2017) at the Svirél International Music Competition; and a gold plaque and second prize at the Davorin Jenko International Music Competition in Belgrade (2013). In 2017 he played in the Junge Norddeutsche Philharmonie and taken part in the academy orchestra project organised in conjunction with the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.

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.

Leon Pokeržnik began his musical career under the guidance of Dušan Remšak, with whom he completed the lower and secondary levels of music school in Maribor. He graduated from the Ljubljana Academy of Music in 2015 in the class of Anton Grčar, and then in 2017 from the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, Denmark, in the class of Kristian Steenstrup. He is currently pursuing a master’s programme at the Ljubljana Academy of Music with Franc Kosem, who has worked with Leon throughout his academic career. He can be heard performing in competitions and at concerts of orchestras from Slovenia and abroad, with which he works regularly.

Pianist Nika Tkalec began her training with Branimir Biliško in Krško and continued her studies with Janez Lovše at the Secondary School of Music and Ballet in Ljubljana. In 2011 she graduated from the Ljubljana Academy of Music in the class of Tomaž Petrač. She has also studied at the Madrid Royal Conservatory with Pilar Bilbao. She is a winner of the Student Prešeren Prize of the Academy of Music. As a soloist she has performed with the symphony orchestras of the Ljubljana Opera and Krško Music School, the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Krško Wind Orchestra and Brass Band Slovenia. She performs regularly in Slovenia as an accompanist and chamber musician, and accompanies young musicians at competitions, seminars and auditions. She has recorded an album in Berlin with trombonist Žan Tkalec. She is currently employed as a piano teacher at Vrhnika Music School and as an associate at the Ljubljana Academy of Music.