Free tickets for the concert are available at Križanke Box Office.

Žan Pečenik, euphonium
Katalin Péter, piano

Blaž Kozjek, trombone
Mateja Hladnik, piano

Programme:
Antonio Vivaldi: Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Minor, RV 43
Karl Jenkins: Euphonium Concerto
John Golland: Peace 
***
Eugen Reiche: Concerto for Trombone and Piano No. 2 in A major
Enrique Crespo: Improvisation No. 1 for Trombone Solo
Lars Erik Larsson: Concertino for Trombone and Piano No. 7, Op. 45
Eugène Bozza: Ballade for Trombone and Piano, Op. 62

Žan Pečenik is a graduate of the Maribor Conservatory of Music and Ballet, where he studied under Nejc Merc for all four years. At secondary school he took part in a large number of national and international competitions in the solo and chamber ensemble categories. He has performed extremely well at competitions, including a first gold plaque at the Woodwind & Brass International Competition in Varaždin in the solo category and a first gold plaque with special commendation for achieving 100 points with the SlideZone Chamber Ensemble. He has attended masterclasses with world-renowned teachers such as Roger Bobo, Steven Mead, Thomas Rüedi and James Gourlay. Over the years he has appeared as a soloist with various orchestras, most notably in April 2019 with the Wind Orchestra of the Maribor Conservatory of Music and Ballet, when he performed The Green Hill  by Bert Appermont. He has been a regular member of the Paloma Wind Orchestra of the Municipality of Šentilj since the age of ten and a member of Slovenia Brass Band since 2017. He received the Dr Roman Klasinc Diploma for outstanding artistic achievements in music for 2018/19. He is currently continuing his musical training at the Ljubljana Academy of Music, where he is a first-year undergraduate student under Nejc Merc.

Katalin Péter was born in Kanjiža in Vojvodina. She decided to take up music at a young age and started learning the piano and guitar. She completed piano studies at the Secondary School in Subotica under Marija Sekelj, graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 1993, and two years later obtained her Master’s degree under Arbo Valdma at the Academy of Music in Novi Sad. During her student years, she won the first prize in both federal and republican competitions for young musicians in the former Yugoslavia on several occasions. As a soloist she has performed with the Vojvodina Youth Orchestra, the Novi Sad Chamber Orchestra, and the Subotica Philharmonic Orchestra. Katalin has given concerts in all the major cultural centres of the former Yugoslavia (Zagreb, Sarajevo, Belgrade, Ljubljana), as well as in other countries. She has recorded for RTV Novi Sad, RTV Belgrade, and RTV Slovenia, and now works as an accompanist and piano teacher at the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet. Katalin has appeared several times as an interpreter of contemporary Slovenian music at the DSS Night of Slovenian Composers. She is also an artistic collaborator of the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, and has been a featured pianist at various music seminars and international competitions.

Blaž Kozjek is a 20-year-old trombonist from Domžale. In the second year of primary school he began attending trombone classes at Domžale Music School, where he completed six years of elementary music education under Luka Einfalt and two years of secondary music education under Damjan Tomažin. After completing primary school education, Blaž enrolled at the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet, where he studied trombone for four years under Andrej Karba and passed his general school-leaving examination. He received a large number of prizes at competitions during his time at the conservatory. He won a silver plaque and third prize at the TEMSIG Competition in 2020; this was followed by a gold plaque and first prize in the 2023 edition. He was awarded first prize at the 2021 edition of the Woodwind & Brass International Competition in Varaždin and third prize at the 2022 Luigi Cerritelli International Music Competition. He has attended masterclasses given by a number of renowned trombone players, including György Gyivicsan, Jesper Busk Sørensen, Fabrice Millischer and Tomer Maschkowski. He has also taken part in the Musica Creativa summer camp, and played with the Slovenian Youth Orchestra (SMO) and Ljubljana International Orchestra (LIO). He performed as a soloist within a trombone quartet with the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet Symphony Orchestra in 2023. He works regularly with the Godba Domžale Cultural Society and the Domžale-Kamnik Symphony Orchestra. He is continuing his trombone studies at the Ljubljana Academy of Music under Dušan Kranjc.

Mateja Hladnik completed the secondary music school programme in Celje before graduating from the Ljubljana Academy of Music under Janez Lovše in 2003. While a student she spent a semester as an Erasmus exchange student at the Kristiansand Conservatory of Music in Norway. After graduating, she took up a position at Celje Music School as a piano teacher and accompanist at the elementary and secondary levels. She is currently employed as a senior associate and accompanist at the Ljubljana Academy of Music.