Jury of the competition

I. and II. category:

Dušan Bavdek (president of the jury), Rok Volk, Maja Lisac Barroso, Alenka Goršič Ernst, Valerija Kamplet, Robert Pirc, Borut Vatovec, Melina Todorovska, Breda Hartman.

Dušan Bavdek

DUŠAN BAVDEK (Slovenia, 1971)
graduated from the Ljubljana Academy of Music in the class of Professor Emeritus Alojz Srebotnjak and then undertook specialist postgraduate studies of composition with Prof. Marijan Gabrijelčič and Dane Škerl. He furthered his composition studies at masterclasses with János Vajda and Helmut Lachenmann. He has received numerous commissions from Slovenian and international institutions, and his music has been performed and broadcast in Europe and elsewhere in the world. He was invited as a guest to the cycle “Leading European Composers” at Washington’s Phillips Collection. Dušan Bavdek is a full professor of composition and music theory at the Ljubljana Academy of Music. He also lectures at a range of other institutions both in Slovenia and abroad, and is regularly invited to participate in international juries of composition and other competitions. In addition to his creative work, his is active in Slovenian and international musical life. He has, amongst other things, served as the artistic director of international activities of the Society of Slovene Composers, as the general secretary of the ISCM World Music Days – Slovenia 2003, as a member of the executive board of the European Composers’ Forum (ECF) and the European Composers’ and Songwriters Alliance (ECSA), and as a member of the workgroup for the European Contemporary Composers’ Orchestra (ECCO).
 

Rok Volk, saxophone

Rok Volk, spec. prof., mag. art., he graduated with honors (Summa cum Laude) at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, where he also completed postgraduate specialization in the class of reg. univ. prof. Matjaž Drevenšek. For his achievements he received Prešernova prize of Academy of music Ljubljana. He spent two years perfecting in Paris (Jean Yves Fourmeau and Philippe Portejoie – graduated Premier Prix). He also successfully finished master’s degree at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Vienna in the class of reg. prof. Oto Vrhovnik. Rok Volk is a winner of many national and international competitions. He cooperates with Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, RTV Slovenia, SNG Maribor, Sommerfilharmonie Leoben (AUT), Festival Lent, Dubrovnik festival (CRO), Šibenik festival (CRO), Zagreb saxophone quartett, saxophone orchestras from Paris and Versailles conservatories, Imago Sloveniae, Jeunesses musicales Ljubljana, Jeunesses musicales Slovenia. He plays in saxophone orchestra S.O.S, saxophone quartet Konus and Oto Vrhovnik saxophone orchestra. He is a jury member in international and national competitions (Internet competition, Saksistra, TEMSIG, Serbian national competition) and lecturer in international seminars and summer schols (Saksistra, Saxophone power). He is professor of saxophone at the Music School Gornja Radgona.

 

 

Maja Lisac Barroso, saxophone

The Slovenian/Swiss saxophone player MAJA BARROSO LISAC began her studies for classical saxophone at the Music University in Vienna and got her Bachelor and Master Degrees at the University of Music in Basel in 2007. She is invited to give concerts in many European countries and masterclasses in Nova Gorica, Slovenia, at the Swiss Saxophone Days in Lucerne and Basel and at the Australasian Saxophone Conference in Sydney. Maja Barroso Lisac is playing solo, in duo with piano, with live-electronics and in ensembles for Contemporary Music. She is member of several groups: The Saxophone Quartet ZURE, the Tango group SAXISM with bandoneon player Marcelo Nisinman (former protegé of Astor Piazzolla) and the Ensemble Nucleus. Maja Barroso Lisac’s speciality is the making of quality musical arrangements for various saxophone formations.  Her arrangments are also played by world renowned soloists like Claude Delangle and Daniel Gauthier. Maja Barroso Lisac got prices and scholarships from the Friedl Wald-Stiftung, the Kanton Basel-Land and from Novartis. She was chosen for an one year residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, where she was working especially in the field of free improvisation as well as with composers. From 2010-2013, Maja Barroso Lisac is teaching at the University of Music in Basel/Switzerland as an assistant of prof. Marcus Weiss. Since 2010, she teaches classical saxophone to jazz students at the University Jazzcampus Basel and at the Music High School in Solothurn, Switzerland.

 

Alenka Goršič Ernst, flute

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Valerija Kamplet, flute

Valerija Kamplet, female flautist, completed the High School for Music and Ballet in Ljubljana in the Class of Professor Helena Poles. She successfully finished her studies in the Class of Professor Matej Zupan in the Academy for Music in Ljubljana. In Maribor she teaches the flute and chamber music at the Conservatory for Music and Ballet and at the Music and Ballet School of Anton Martin Slomšek in Maribor. She educated a number of brilliant young flautists, who received a number of awards and recognition awards at the state and International competitions, as solo players and as chamber musicians. Her students are presenting themselves with independent flautist recitals and performances all over Slovenia and are recording for the radio and the television. A student of hers in Maribor is also a brilliant young female flautist Dorotea Senica, who studies at the University Mozarteum in Salzburg.  She was a member of the commissions of regional and international competitions and she composed propositions for the state competition TEMSIG. She also helped with grading of high school graduation performances for the flute. She participated at the Committee of Reformation of School Curriculum for the Art High School for the flute.   She directs a children choir at the parish of »Mary Church Mother« in Maribor. In 2010 she received »Dr. Roman Klasinc« Document Award for her accomplishments in the educational field.

 

Robert Pirc, clarinet

He has graduated on the Musical Academy in Ljubljana, class of Professor Slavko Goričar. After the graduation he specialized at bass clarinet in class of Paolo De Gaspari. He was also a member of Clarinet quartet ClariFour, which performed at numerous successful concerts. However, he is dedicated to teaching in Glasbena šola Krško, his students are very successful at competitions, they achieve high awards. He is a member of Wind Band Krško and Slovenian Clarinet Choir. 

 

 

 

 

Borut Vatovec, clarinet

He graduated with distinction at Academy of Music Ljubljana (prof. Jože Kotar). As a student he became laureate of many competitions. 
Several times he recorded for the radio RTV Slovenia and Italian RAI.  As a soloist and as a member of chamber ensembles he has performed in Slovenia, Croatia,  Austria, Italy, Great Britain, Norway and The Netherlands.
 Former member of the Slovenian Police Orchestra (1997 – 2003), performs in duo together with guitarist Tanja Brecelj Vatovec, and he is a member of the clarinet quartet Alpe Adria Consort (music association Serenade Ensemble), as well as the Slovenian Orchestra of Clarinet. Between 2006 and 2010 he worked as a mentor at the »Arena International« summer music schools in Pula (Croatia). He works at Music School of Koper and Grammar School of Arts Koper.

 

Melina Todorovska, oboe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breda Hartman, oboe

 

 

 

 

 

III., IV., V. and VI. category:

Nenad Firšt (president of the jury), Lars Mlekusch, Eric Lamb, Paolo Beltramini, Clara Dent-Bogányi.

Nenad Firšt

Nenad FIRŠT (Zagreb, 1964) studied composition (under professor Dane Škerl) and violin (under professor Rok Klopčič) at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana. He has attended international courses in chamber music and composition in Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and France.
He was a member of the Sebastian String Quartet (as a violinist) and the president of the Slovenian Jeunesses Musicales. Since 1988 he has been the artistic director and the conductor of the Celje String Orchestra, and from last year the president of the Society of Slovene Composers.
Almost one hundred of his solo, chamber and symphony works have been performed at concerts and festivals in most of the European countries, USA, Brasil, Australia, Russia, Korea, Japan and Thailand. His compositions could be found on 30 CDs of renowned soloists and ansambles.
He has received numerous awards for his works, including the Prešeren Fund Award in 2009.

 

 

 

 

Eric Lamb, flute

Flutist Eric Lamb is in demand internationally as a soloist, recitalist, concert curator and chamber musician.  Eric is presently a member of the new music collective, Ensemble Reconsil (Vienna), Chineke! Orchestra London and is co-artistic director of ensemble paladino.  

Until 2013, he performed extensively as a core member of the New York/Chicago based International Contemporary Ensemble - ICE.  

In the last decade, Eric has premiered more than 200 works and has worked closely with composers John Adams, Kaija Saariaho, George Lewis, Marc-Andres Dalbavie, HK Gruber, Matthias Pintscher, Reinbert de Leeuw, Michel van der Aa, Nico Muhly, Ben Foskett and conductors Franz Welser-Möst, Vladamir Ashkenazy, Ludovic Morlot, Pablo Heras-Casado, Steve Schick, Susanna Mälkki and Pierre Laurent-Aimard.

As a recording artist his discography as a soloist and chamber musician is ever growing. He has recorded over 15 CD's for various labels including Kairos, paladino, SONY, NMC, mode, New Amsterdam, NAXOS,  Bridge and Nonesuch. This repertoire expands one of the widest of his generation - from Bach, Mozart and Schubert to Xenakis, Jason Eckhardt and Passion Pit.  

Eric has performed with a long list of the worlds most important orchestra's and ensembles including the Cleveland Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Orchestra, ASKO Schoenberg Ensemble, Radio Orchestra Frankfurt and has been invited to perform at festivals in Darmstadt, Graz, Salzburg, Lockenhaus, Acht Brücken in Cologne, Mostly Mozart Festival, Heidelberg Spring Music Festival and the Bucharest Festival for New Music, to name but a few. His chamber music partners include some of Europe's most celebrated vocalists, instrumentalists and artists. Among many other projects, presently Eric is working in close collaboration with the Stockhausen Stiftung and the Theater Basel to recreate the role of Luzifer in Stockhausen's opera 'Donnerstag aus Licht'.

Eric Lamb's research centers around a very broad sweep of musical styles. Along with his on-going commitment to expanding the 21st century flute repertoire, he most recently has been deeply involved with the study and exploration of 17th and 18th century performance practice. This work has culminated, so far, in the discovery and editing of several long lost concerti, etudes, solo pieces and sonatas. His recent research output includes editions of solo works of Johann Joachim Quantz, Johann George Tromlitz, Johann Martin Blochwitz, Michel Blavet and arrangements of JS Bach and Mozart for flute and cello, all published for paladino music.  His critically acclaimed debut solo CD 'Quantz: Solo Flute Music' features the premier recording of Quantz's 8 caprices. 

Lamb continues to be a much sought-after pedagogue and is regularly invited to present workshops, master classes and lectures throughout Europe and the US. He has been artist in residence at the Conservatoire Nationale de Musique et Danse La Rochelle and has given master classes at Eastern Michigan University, Smith College, the University of Virginia, the University of Auckland NZ, Victoria University of Wellington, University of Waikato, Bowling Green University, University of South Carolina, Academie für Musik Wiesbaden and Northwestern University.

Early on in his career, Eric Lamb was a recipient of the Millennium Young Artists' Award from the James Tatum Foundation of the Arts, the National John Philip Sousa Award and the Dean's Talent Scholarship from Oberlin College. He was a finalist at the International Music Competition "Pacem in Terris" (Bayreuth, Germany) and won first prize in the Polytechnische Gesellschaft Chamber Music Competition, first prize in the Lenzewski Music Competition followed later that year with first prize in the German Academic Exchange Performing Arts Competition (DAAD). 

Eric completed his musical studies at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he was a student of Michel Debost. He then continued at the Hochschule für Musik Frankfurt am Main with Thaddeus Watson and later at the Sculoa di Musica di Fiesole, Italy with Chiara Tonelli.

Eric is an Altus performing artist and lives in Vienna

 

Paolo Beltramini, clarinet

Paolo Beltramini, Solo Clarinet of the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana (Lugano, Switzerland), is the only Italian clarinetist to have won the First Prize at the prestigious Prague Spring International Clarinet Competition (1996). In duo, together with the pianist Roberto Arosio, he was the winner of the International Chamber Music Competitions in Paris (1996) and Trapani (1997). The forementioned awards brought Beltramini to the atention of audiences and critics and helped establish his reputation as one of the most interesting wind-instrument virtuosos on the international concert circuit.

At the age of 18, Paolo received his degree with highest marks from the Conservatorio G. Verdi (Milan, Italy). He continued his studies with T. Friedli and W. Boeykens at the Scuola di Alto Perfezionamento (Saluzzo, Italy), as well as G. Garbarino at the Accademia Chigiana (Siena, Italy), where he obtained the Diploma d'Onore and the Siae Scholarship.

A refined interpreter of the clarinet repertoire, he was a guest performer and teacher at some of the most prestigious concert institutions and halls of Europe, the United States, Asia, Africa and South America. As soloist, he appeared with the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, Camerata St. Petersburg, Kurpfazisches Kammerorchester Mannheim, Slovenian Radio and Television Orchestra, Prague Symphony Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra G. Cantelli, Osnabrucker Symphonieorchester, Virtuosi di Aquilea and Piccola Sinfonica di Milano in numerous performances of the Concertos by Mozart, Nielsen, Weber, Rossini, Mercadante, Ponchielli, Francesconi, Anzaghi etc. Furthermore, he collaborated with M. Argerich, A. Lonquich, A. Lucchesini, E. Dindo, M. Bourge, G. Carmignola, B. Giuranna, Quintetto Bibiena, Quartetto di Fiesole, Stamitz Quartet, Quartetto Prometeo.

As Principal Clarinetist he played with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra Nazionale della RAI (Turin, Italy), Orchestra di Santa Cecilia (Rome, Italy), Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, Orchestra da Camera italiana etc., under the batton of conductors such as B. Haitink, G. Pretre, N. Jaervi, G. Sinopoli, M. Wung Chung, M. Janssons, A. Lombard, W. Delman, E. Inbal, S. Accardo, D. Gatti, C. Abbado etc.

Paolo Beltramini is regularly invited to be a part of national and international competition juries and has taught at International Master Classes in Italy, USA, France, Switzerland, Slovenia and Portugal. His discography includes recordings for Chandos, Ricordi, EMI, Fonit Cetra, Stradivarius, Rainbow, AS Disc, RS and radio and television recordings and broadcasts for RAI, RSI (Switzerland), and Radio France.

Paolo holds the post of Professor of Clarinet at the Luzern Hochschule fur Musik.

 

Lars Mlekusch, saxophone

LARS MLEKUSCH was born in Switzerland and has established himself as one of the most sought after saxophonists and teachers.

He has performed in many European countries as well as in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Canada, USA and New Zealand. Lars Mlekusch was a guest musician with the world renowned Klangforum Wien for ten years until he joined the ensemble PHACE as their saxophone soloist. He is the artistic director and conductor of the Vienna Saxophonic Orchestra and with his Duo Saxophonic he is exploring the possibilities of saxophone with live-electronics.

At the age of only 26, he was appointed professor of saxophone and chamber music at the Konservatorium Wien University in Vienna, where he is leading a highly successful international saxophone class. From 2004 to 2007 he was also teaching saxophone at the University of Music in Basel.

In 2015 he has been appointed the new saxophone professor at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK).

Lars Mlekusch has been invited to teach masterclasses at renowned institutions such as the CNSMD Paris, Conservatorium Amsterdam, Koninklijk Conservatorium and Conservatoire Royal Brussels, Chopin University of Music Warsaw, Lucerne University of Music, Lausanne University of Music, Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi Milano, Conservatorio Santa Cecilia Roma, Conservatorio Real Superior Madrid, Conservatorio Superior Sevilla, Conservatoire Boulogne- Billancourt, Royal College of Music London, Conservatorio Superior Palma de Mallorca, Shanghai Conservatory, Bejing Central Conservatory, Senzoku Gauken College Tokyo, Kunitachi College Tokyo, Northwestern University Chicago, Eastman School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Bowling Green State University, Michigan State University or University of Toronto.
He was a jury member at the Int. Saxophone Competition Nova Gorica and at the 3rd Int. Jean-Marie Londeix Competition Bangkok. In 2014 he was a jury member of the prestigious Int. Adolphe Sax Competition in Dinant.

At the festival SAX14 in Amsterdam he was a featured performer and played also with James Carter.

Lars Mlekusch has been invited to teach masterclasses at renowned institutions such as the CNSMD Paris, Conservatorium Amsterdam, Koninklijk Conservatorium and Conservatoire Royal Brussels, Chopin University of Music Warsaw, Lucerne University of Music, Lausanne University of Music, Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi Milano, Conservatorio Santa Cecilia Roma, Conservatorio Real Superior Madrid, Conservatorio Superior Sevilla, Conservatoire Boulogne- Billancourt, Royal College of Music London, Conservatorio Superior Palma de Mallorca, Shanghai Conservatory, Bejing Central Conservatory, Senzoku Gauken College Tokyo, Kunitachi College Tokyo, Northwestern University Chicago, Eastman School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Bowling Green State University, Michigan State University or University of Toronto.
He was a jury member at the Int. Saxophone Competition Nova Gorica and at the 3rd Int. Jean-Marie Londeix Competition Bangkok. In 2014 he was a jury member of the prestigious Int. Adolphe Sax Competition in Dinant.

Lars Mlekusch is a graduate from the University of Music in Basel (Marcus Weiss) and from Northwestern University (Frederick L. Hemke). He also enjoyed conducting classes with Emilio Pomárico in Milan which led him to explore a new musical journey through conducting. In 2006 he was diagnosed Focal Dystonia (“Musician´s Cramp”) in his right hand and in 2011 focal dystonia of the embouchure. Despite this condition, he continuos to perform extensively as a soloist and with his ensembles.

 

Clara Dent-Bogányi, oboe

Clara Dent-Bogányi was born in Berlin and grew up in Salzburg (Austria).

She began her oboe-studies with Arthur Jensen at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and, under the tuition of Günther Passin, graduated with a master’s diploma from the Hochschule für Musik in Munich.

She is Prize-winner of the ARD Competition in Munich, the Intern. Competition in Geneva and many more.

Clara Dent-Bogányi won the international scholarship of the „Kulturvereinigung“ in Munich in 1999.

She performed as a soloist with many renowned orchestras like the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchester, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Camerata Academica Salzburg etc. and has had numerous solo performances recorded for CD and radio.

She is the principal oboist of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra since 1999.

In 2007 she followed the invitation of GMD Kent Nagano and played one saison as principal oboist at the Bavarian State Opera.

Clara Dent has taught oboe since 2005; first in Munich at the „Richard Strauss Konservatorium“, then in Augsburg at the „Leopold Mozart Institut“ and since

2009 as a professor at the „Hochschule für Musik“ in Nürnberg. She furthermore gives international master classes in Europe and Asia and is invited as a Jury-member for several well known National and Intern. Competitions.

As a chamber musician she is invited to festivals all over Europe.