Programme:
Johann Sebastian Bach: Prelude and fugue in E minor, BWV 548
Olivier Messiaen: Selection from La Nativité du Seigneur
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Johann Sebastian Bach: Toccata in F major, BWV 540
Jules Massenet, arr.  Humphrey John Stewart: Angélus from Scènes pittoresques
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Adagio and Allegro in F minor, KV 594
Sigfrid Karg-Elert: Hymn to the stars, Op. 96, No. 7
Peter Iljič Čajkovski, arr. Gordon Balch Nevin: Dance of the reed flutes from the The Nutcraker Suite, Op. 71a

Zala Ažbe began her musical journey with piano lessons at Škofja Loka Music School. She started playing the organ at the age of eleven and spent the next four years studying with Klemen Karlin. She continued her musical training at the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet, initially with Nina Frank and then, for three years, with Renata Bauer. She is currently a second-year student in Renata Bauer’s class at the Ljubljana Academy of Music. She is a regular participant in national and international competitions. She won gold plaques at the 2018, 2021 and 2024 editions of the TEMSIG competition. Last year she came first in her age category at the 1st IMMCC International Organ Competition and won a gold plaque. In 2019 she won a prize as the most promising young organist at the 1st Fondazione Friuli International Organist Competition for young organists, held in Udine. She regularly attends masterclasses with renowned organists such as Leo van Doeselaar, Nathan Laube, Lorenzo Ghielmi, Wolfgang Kogert and Pavao Mašić.

Nika Frelih holds a degree in organ from the Ljubljana Academy of Music. Her first encounters with music came at a young age, initially at the DO RE MI Music Centre, where she had lessons in piano, solfeggio, choir, orchestra and violin, and later at Radovljica Music School, where she studied organ and singing. She continued her musical training with Nina Frank at the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet and with Renata Bauer at the Ljubljana Academy of Music. During the 2022/23 academic year she participated in a student exchange at the University of Music and Theatre in Leipzig, where she was mentored by Martin Schmeding and Nicolas Berndt. She is currently pursuing further organ studies in the class of Zita Nauratyill at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Her interests also extend to singing (solo and choral), music theory, composition and improvisation. She has won prizes both for organ (gold plaques and two first prizes at the 2018, 2021 and 2024 editions of the TEMSIG competition) and for solfeggio (gold plaque at TEMSIG 2015). She won the Slovenian Music Olympiad in 2016 and came fourth at the International Music Olympiad. Her original composition Molitev (Prayer) was recommended for performance at the Academy of Music’s A bocca chiusa competition in 2022. She has also taken part in other singing, piano and organ competitions. She has taught musical appreciation, solfeggio and piano at the DO RE MI Music Centre and also enjoys serving as an accompanist. As an organist she has worked with the choirs of the Glasbena Matica Ljubljana and the Ljubljana Academy of Music.